THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


ENDOWED  BY  THE 

DIALECTIC  AND  PHILANTHROPIC 

SOCIETIES 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


10001881199 


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I  t                             RFT 

DUE 

DATE                     RET 
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1  U  w 

s.  ; 

JiOX^Q 

V*i  0  71890 

112  0  '56 

■ 

... , 

T — 

" 

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MEN   OF    MARYLAND, 


By  The 


Rev.  GEORGE  F.  BRAGG,  D.  D., 

Rector  of  St.  James'  Church,  Baltimore,  McL,  and 
Editor  of  The  Church  Advocate. 


2-1-73  tMz 


CHURCH  ADVOCATE    PRESS. 

BALTIMORE,   MI). 

1914 


[Copyrighted,  1914,  By  George  F.  Bragg,  Jr.] 


THIS  VOLUME  IS 


LOVINGLY  DEDICATED 


TO  THE  BELOVED 


MOTHER,  WIFE  AND  DAUGHTERS 


OF  THE  AUTHOR. 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  7 


THE  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 

As  a  result  of  many  years  of  research  and  investigation, 
embracing  various  volumes,  ecclesiastical  journals,  private 
letters,  as  well  as  information  received  from  the  lips  of 
some  of  the  characters  mentioned,  the  author  has  accumu- 
lated considerable  data  bearing  upon  the  lives  of  colored 
men,  natives  of  the  State  of  Maryland,  which,  in  his 
opinion,  ought  to  be  known  and  studied  by  the  rising  gen- 
eration of  colored  people  of  Maryland.  It  has  occurred 
to  him  that  such  data  put  into  a  convenient  form  cannot 
but  prove  interesting  and  helpful  to  all  intelligent  and 
patriotic  members  of  the  race.  And,  again,  it  is  his  belief 
that  the  appearance  of  such  a  volume,  recording  the  annals 
of  the  "Men  of  Maryland"  might  incite  others,  lovers  of 
the  historical  doings  of  the  race,  to  compile  like  volumes, 
with  respect  to  notable  and  distinguished  colored  men  of 
the  various  States  of  the  Union,  and,  thereby,  secure,  in 
substantial  form,  important  historical  matter  pertaining  to 
the  race  throughout  the  country,  for  the  benefit  of  the  gen- 
erations which  are  to  follow. 

We  have  undertaken  to  present,  in  this  volume,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  historical  sketches  given,  some  important  data 
throwing  light  upon  the  history  of  "black  slaves,"  and  "free 
blacks/'  in  Maryland;  a  clear  statement  of  the  great  issue 
of  the  Civil  War :  a  few  extracts  from  the  writings  of  some 
of  the  characters  mentioned  in  the  book,  and  copies  of  two 
most  important  letters  which  made  their  appearance  in  the 


8  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

year  190M:,  in  connection  with  the  effort  to  introduce  "dis- 
franchisement" and  "jim-crow"  conditions  into  this  State. 
His  Eminence  James  Cardinal  Gibbons,  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  is  the  author  of  one  of  these  letters,  while 
the  remaining  one  is  from  the  pen  of  one  of  Maryland's 
most  distinguished  citizens,  the  Hon.  Charles  J.  Bona- 
parte, a  former  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States. 

We  desire  to  specially  acknowledge  our  debt,  in  the  per- 
fection of  this  volume,  to  Brackett's  Negro  in  Maryland, 
Still's  Underground  Eailroad,  Bishop  Payne's  History  of 
the  A.  M.  E.  Church,  addresses  by  Dr.  Crummell,  and  data 
from  William  Carl  Bollivar,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  George 
W.  Forbes,  of  Massachusetts. 

Notwithstanding  the  immense  labor  involved,  extending 
over  many  years,  in  collecting  the  matter  for  this  volume, 
the  work  has  afforded  the  author  the  keenest  pleasure  and 
delight.  If  we  have  succeeded  in  bringing  together  such 
informing  and  cheering  facts,  with  respect  to  the  past  his- 
tory of  our  people  in  Maryland,  as  will  stimulate  a  greater 
appreciation  for  the  literature  of  the  Colored  race  we  shall 
feel  that  our  task  has  not  been  in  vain. 


MEN    OF   MARYLAND.  9 


BLACK  SLAVES  IN  MARYLAND. 

It  is  not  definitely  known  when  and  by  whom  the  first 
African  Slaves  were  introduced  into  the  Colony  of  Mary- 
land. In  1642  records  show  that  Governor  Calvert  was 
bargaining  with  a  ship-master  for  thirteen  slaves  at  St. 
Mary's.  At  any  rate,  the  increase  of  slaves,  for  awhile, 
was  not  very  rapidly. 

But,  just  as  they  began  to  increase  a  most  interesting 
question  came  up  with  respect  to  the  effect  of  Baptism 
administered  to  them,  or  to  their  offspring.  It  was  held 
by  some,  that  the  effect  of  Baptism,  in  making  them 
"Christians,"  freed  them  from  physical  bondage.  That  is, 
on  being  baptized  they  immediately  became  "freemen." 
This  feeling,  or  conviction,  greatly  interfered  with  the  in- 
crease of  slavery  as  well  as  with  the  imparting  of  Christian 
instruction  to  those  who  had  already  been  imported.  The 
question  occupied  the  minds  of  the  local  authorities,  as  well 
as  the  authorities  in  London.  In  1671,  an  act  was  passed 
entitled  "an  act  for  the  Encouraging  the  Importation  of 
Negroes  and  Slaves,"  which  declared  that  Baptism,  or  Con- 
version, should  not  be  taken  to  give  manumission  in  any 
way  to  their  slaves  or  to  their  issue,  who  had  become  or 
should  become  Christians,  or  who  had  been  or  should  be 
baptized,  either  before  or  after  their  importation  to  Mary- 
land, any  opinion  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  In 
Virginia  there  was  enacted,  in  1667,  that  baptism  did  not 


10  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

give  freedom,  so  that  diverse  masters,  freed  from  doubt, 
might  endeavor  to  spread  Christianity  among  the  blacks. 

By  an  act  of  1681,  children  born  of  white  women  and 
black  men,  were  free.  After  1692,  the  issue  of  a  union 
between  any  white  woman  with  a  slave  or  free  black,  became 
servants  for  a  long  time.  A  law  enacted  in  17.15,  forbade, 
under  penalties,  the  marriage  of  a  white  to  any  black  or 
mulatto  slave.  But,  by  this  law  a  white  and  a  free  mulatto 
could  marry.  The  law  of  1717  made  a  free  black  or 
mulatto,  except  mulattoes  born  of  white  women,  slaves  for 
life.  In  the  record  office  in  London,  in  1712,  there  was  a 
list  of  "Christian"  men  and  women  and  children,  and  also 
black  slaves  in  Maryland.  According  to  this  list  there 
were  then,  in  Maryland,  38,000  whites  and  8,000  blacks. 
In  1790,  there  were  over  208,000  whites  and  nearly  half 
as  many  slaves  in  Maryland.  Of  the  2,290  blacks  imported 
into  Maryland  between  1699  and  1707,  all  but  126  were 
brought  in  London  vessels. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  from  the  very  first  there 
seemed  to  be  a  goodly  number  of  whites  who  were  opposed 
to  Slavery.  In  various  ways,  this  feeling  and  conviction 
was  shown.  Shortly  after  the  Ee volution,  1776,  a  con- 
certed effort  was  made  in  the  direction  of  the  abolition  of 
Slavery,  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  or  Quakers, 
were  conspicuously  in  the  lead.  In  1785,  the  House  of 
Delegates  of  Maryland  received  a  petition  along  this  line, 
and  legislation  was  introduced  to  that  end,  but  failed  of 
adoption.  Yet,  it  is  significant  that  the  members  of  that 
body  voting  upon  the  proposition  were  very  nearly  equally 
divided.  Two  years  later,  the  Baltimore  Yearly  Meeting 
of  Friends  sent  another  petition  to  the  legislature  on  the 
subject.  In  1789  the  Maryland  Society  for  Promoting 
the  Abolition  of  slaves,  and  the  Eelief  of  poor  Negroes, 
was  organized. 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  11 

One  of  the  effects  of  this  continued  agitation  was  indi- 
cated in  the  constant  increase  of  manumissions.  An  in- 
creasing number  of  whites  were  moved  to  set  free  their 
slaves,  not  a  few  by  means  of  their  last  will  and  testament ; 
and,  others,  were  induced  to  permit  slaves  to  purchase 
their  own  freedom.  In  1829  a  memorial  from  citizens  of 
Frederick  county,  requesting  the  adoption  of  such  legisla- 
tion whereby  children  born  of  slave  parents  might  become 
free  at  a  certain  time,  was  considered,  but  not  adopted. 
The  trend  of  affairs  generally  were  contributing  to  a  steady 
increase  in  the  number  of  "free  Negroes/'  and  this  condi- 
tion of  affairs  also  conspired  to  render  more  severe  and 
cruel  the  lot  of  slaves.  The  presence  of  "free  Negroes,"  in 
itself,  was  a  constant  inspiration  to  the  slave  to  become 
dissatisfied  with  servitude.  Then,  in  1831,  came  the  news 
of  Nat  Turner's  insurrection,  in  Virginia,  and  this  con- 
tributed still  more  to  the  fears  of  the  slave-holders,  and 
rendered  them  more  watchful,  and  at  the  same  time  more 
cruel  towards  the  slave.  Following  close  upon  all  this  was 
the  bold  attitude  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  demanding 
immediate  abolition.  Slave  laws  of  the  greatest  stringency 
followed  fast  upon  each  other.  At  the  same  time,  all  of 
these  various  conditions  hastened  the  adoption  of  the 
"Colonization"  scheme  as  the  State  policy. 

The  establishment  of  Liberia,  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa, 
was  the  logical  outcome  of  the  systematic  agitation,  all 
along,  of  humane  whites  with  respect  to  the  abolition  of 
slavery  which  commenced  soon  after  the  first  introduction 
of  slavery  into  the  colony  of  Maryland.  As  judged  from 
the  exigencies  of  the  situation,  at  the  time,  they  esteemed 
it  the  very  best  that  could  be  accomplished,  under  all  the 
circumstances,  in  a  merciful  and  humane  way,  for  the 
welfare  of  the  enslaved  blacks.     So  they  finally  got  the 


12  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

State  pledged  to  Colonization  as  the  State  policy,  and  an 
appropriation  of  a  certain  sum  of  money  to  pay  the  ex- 
penses of  such  as  volunteered  to  go  to  Africa.  Many 
manumissions  were  given  with  the  expressed  conditio]], 
that,  in  a  reasonable  time,  the  person  set  free  should  leave 
Maryland  for  Africa.  In  1843,  a  clergyman  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church,  of  Charles  county,  brought  a  number  of  slaves 
owned  by  him  to  Baltimore,  and,  himself  presenting  them 
for  Confirmation,  in  St.  James'  First  African  Church,  to 
the  late  Bishop  Whittingham,  who  administered  the  rite, 
immediately  gave  them  their  freedom  on  condition  that 
they  at  once  leave  the  country  for  Africa,  which  was  done. 


^y 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  13 


FREE  BLACKS  IN  MARYLAND. 

The  number  of  free  blacks  in  the  State  of  Maryland  was 
quite  small  until  the  closing  of  the  Eighteenth  Century. 
The  census  of  1790  gave  eight  thousand  free  blacks  in  the 
State.  From  this  time  the  number  increased.  In  1807, 
the  permanent  policy  of  prohibiting  the  removal  of  free 
blacks  into  this  State,  from  elsewhere,  was  initiated.  After 
that  time  any  free  black  coming  into  the  State  could  re- 
main no  longer  than  two  weeks.  The  penalty  for  a  longer 
continuance  was  a  fine  of  $10  a  week,  and  being  unable  to 
pay  the  fine  he  could  be  sold  into  slavery  for  a  term 
sufficient  to  cover  the  fine.  Somehow,  free  blacks  con- 
tinued to  come,  and  the  statute  not  being  generally  en- 
forced additional  and  more  stringent  legislation  was  en- 
acted. Following  the  great  uprising  in  Virginia,  among 
the  blacks,  in  1831,  laws  with  increasing  severity  of  punish- 
ment were  passed.  A  free  black  coming  into  the  State, 
after  ten  days,  was  fined  $50  a  week  for  every  week  he  re- 
mained, half  of  the  money  going  to  the  informant.  Any 
person  who  harbored  a  free  black,  thus  coming  into  the 
State,  after  four  clays,  was  fined  $20  a  day.  Any  free 
black,  a  resident  of  the  State  on  going  out  of  the  State, 
should  he  remain  longer  than  thirty  days,  without  permis- 
sion, would  be  deemed  a  non-resident,  and  subject  to  all 
the  conditions  which  applied  to  other  free  blacks  entering 
the  State  for  the  first  time.  But,  in  order  to  encourage 
Colonization,  any  black  could  come  or  go  at  will  between 
Maryland  and  Liberia,  West  Africa. 


14  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

English  women,  the  servant  class,  were  early  imported 
into  the  Colony,  and  were  in  limited  slavery.  That  is, 
thev  were  constrained  to  remain  in  service  for  a  term  of 
years,  in  payment  of  the  expense  in  bringing  them  to  this 
country.  Quite  a  number  of  them  married  black  men. 
The  colony  of  Maryland  was  established  in  1634,  and  as 
early  as  1664  a  law  was  enacted  giving  penalties  for  "such 
shameful  matches/'  that  is,  marriage  between  a  white  per- 
son and  a  black  slave.  Such  marriages  were  also  forbidden 
between  white  women  and  free  blacks.  Penalties  were 
specified  for  the  Master  who  permitted  such  affiliation,  and 
also  the  minister  officiating.  They  were  fined,  each,  ten 
thousand  pounds  of  Tobacco.  The  law  of  1717  is  a  little 
curious  on  this  subject.  A  free  black,  or  mulatto,  marry- 
ing a  white  woman  would  become  a  slave  for  life.  But, 
mulattoes,  born  of  white  women,  should  serve  only  for 
seven  years.  In  1777,  by  the  Militia  law  free  blacks  were 
excluded  from  service,  but  in  1790  they  were  specifically 
included.  In  1793  the  same  Militia  law  again  limits  serv- 
ice to  white  men. 

The  education  of  free  blacks,  and  slaves,  was  not  for- 
bidden by  law,  in  Maryland,  but,  nevertheless,  such  enter- 
prises depended  upon  individuals  and  members  of  the 
Society  of  Friends.  As  far  back  as  1761  the  Eev.  Thomas 
Bacon,  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England  inaugurated 
a  free  school  for  black  children  in  Frederick  county.  And 
even  long  before  this  time,  the  same  clergyman  had  inau- 
gurated a  school  in  Talbot  county  for  the  poorer  classes  of 
both  races.  Of  this  effort,  Mr.  Lawrence  C.  Wroth,  assist- 
ant Librarian  of  the  Pratt  Library,  Baltimore,  in  a  pub- 
lished  essay,  some  years  ago  among  other  things,  said : 

"Mr.  Bacon  had  set  an  example  in  the  Province  in  re- 
gard to  the  Christian  education  of  Ncsrro  slaves  which  was 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  ±0 

not  generally  to  be  followed  by  either  clergy  or  laity  for 
many  generations.  It  was  probably  his  work  among  the 
Negroes  which  led  to  the  project  of  founding  a  sort  of 
manual  training  or  industrial  school  for  poor  children.  In 
a  subscription  paper  circulated  in  1750,  he  remarks  upon 
the  'profaneness  and  debauchery,  idleness  and  immorality 
.  .  .  especially  among  the  poorer  sort  in  this  province' 
and  asks  for  yearly  subscriptions,  'for  setting  up  a  Charity 
Working  School  in  the  Parish  of  St.  Peter's,  in  Talbot 
county,  for  maintaining  and  teaching  poor  children  to  read, 
write  and  account,  and  instructing  them  in  the  knowledge 
and  practice  of  the  Christian  religion,  as  taught  in  the 
Church  of  England/  A  few  months  later  he  had  received 
from  a  goodly  list  of  subscribers,  among  them  the  Pro- 
prietary and  Lady  Baltimore,  Cecelius  Calvert  and  Bishop 
Wilson,  a  sufficient  fund  for  the  running  expenses,  and  in 
the  course  of  a  few  years  his  subscriptions  permitted  the 
purchase  of  one  hundred  acres  of  land  and  the  erection  of 
a  suitable  brick  home  and  school.  Thus,  in  the  year  1755, 
and  for  many  thereafter,  Talbot  county  boasted  a  fine 
charity  school,  but  thirty  years  later,  when  Bacon  and 
nearly  all  of  the  original  trustees  were  dead  it  was  turned 
over  to  the  county  for  use  as  a  poor  house.  The  institu- 
tion seems  to  have  been  born  before  its  time  in  so  far  as 
Maryland  was  concerned." 

Daniel  Coker,  a  mulatto,  whose  freedom  was  purchased 
by  friends,  conducted  quite  a  large  and  flourishing  day 
school,  for  free  blacks  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  previous  to 
the  year  1816.  In  1824,  the  Rev.  William  Levin gton, 
founder  and  rector  of  St.  James'  First  African  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  initiated  a  free  school  which  was  con- 
tinued, in  connection  with  that  church,  until  long  after  the 
close  of  the  Civil  War.  A  Eev.  Mr.  Watkins,  an  African 
Methodist  minister,  also  conducted  a   day  school  in  the 


*1G  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

city  of  Baltimore,  for  black  children;  and  there  were  sev- 
eral other  such  enterprises.  From  the  census  of  I860,  we 
learn  that  there  were  1,355  free  bla'ck  children  attending 
school  in  the  State.  There  were  a  number  of  free  colored 
men  who  owned  their  wives,  and  children.  They  held  them 
in  such  state  to  more  effectually  secure  their  freedom. 
There  were  also  a  few  blacks  who  owned  and  hired  slaves. 
Mention  is  made  of  a  free  black  of  Dorchester  county  re- 
ceiving payment  for  a  slave  whom  he  had  bought  for  a 
term  of  years,  and  who  was  sold  out  of  the  State,  for  crime, 
by  the  court.  Colored  persons,  free  or  slaves,  could  testify 
in  court,  for  or  against  any  colored  person,  but  not  in  any 
case  where  a  white  person  was  concerned.  The  child  of  a 
white  man  and  a  mulatto  slave  was  incapable  of  witnessing 
against  a  white  person;  but  the  child  of  a  black  man  and 
a  white  woman — there  were  not  a  few  cases  of  such  off- 
spring— was  qualified  as  a  witness,  during  the  limited  time 
he  was  put  to  service.     This  was  up  to  1717. 

In  1847,  there  was  a  very  estimable  colored  man,  the 
Steward  of  the  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis,  whose  wife 
and  children  were  residing  in  Philadelphia.  Permission 
for  such  to  visit  the  husband,  and  father,  was  conditioned 
on  their  residing  in  Annapolis,  and  they  should  remain 
only  so  long  as  the  Steward  remained  in  his  present  job. 
A  Washington  firm  conducted  a  Summer  Eesort  in  St. 
Mary's  county.  This  firm  was  only  privileged  to  carry  its 
colored  help  there  on  the  condition  that  they  should  be  re- 
stricted to  the  grounds;  and  when  the  season  was  over 
should  immediately  return  to  the  city  of  Washington.  A 
free  black  woman  was  fined  $250  for  five  weeks'  stay  in 
Maryland,  and  sold  into  slavery  for  a  term  of  years,  in  de-  \ 
fault  of  not  being  able  to  pay  the  fine.  Color  always 
created  the  presumption  that  a  black  was  a  slave.     It  was 


MEN    OF   MARYLAND.  17 

up  to  him  to  prove  that  he  was  a  "free  black."  The  Mary- 
land Abolition  Society  (1789)  interested  itself  greatly  in 
preventing  the  unlawful  "kidnapping"  of  free  black  chil- 
dren, who  were  sold  into  slavery. 

The  constitution  of  1776  guaranteed  the  right  to  vote  to 
all  freemen,  of  age,  and  who  held  a  certain  amount  of  prop- 
erty. Under  this  constitution  there  were  quite  a  number 
of  colored  men  who  exercised  the  right  of  franchise;  but 
under  the  amended  constitution  of  1810  the  suffrage  was 
strictly  limited  to  white  men.  The  "free"  black  had  the 
right  of  petition,  and  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  this  right 
was  most  frequently  used.  It  was  through  "petition"  to 
the  legislature  that  many  evils  were  mitigated  on  their 
behalf.  A  considerable  number  of  free  blacks  owned  small 
houses,  and  pieces  of  land.  Some  of  the  Banks  received 
deposits  from  free  blacks.  In  Annapolis  there  were  sev- 
eral black  depositors  and  one  owned  shares  of  the  Bank 
stock. 

In  1831,  all  colored  persons  were  forbidden  to  assemble 
or  to  attend  meetings  for  religious  purposes  which  were 
not  conducted  by  a  white  licensed  clergyman  or  by  some 
respectable  white  of  the  neighborhood  authorized  by  the 
clergyman. 

In  1842,  it  was  enacted  that  any  free  colored  person  con- 
victed of  becoming  or  continuing  to  be  a  member  of  any 
secret  society  whatever,  whether  it  held  its  meetings  in 
Maryland,  or  without,  should  be  deemed  a  felon,  and  be 
fined  not  less  than  $50.  In  default  of  payment,  he  should 
be  sold  for  a  term  sufficient  to  pay  the  fine.  For  the 
second  offense  he  should  be  sold  out  of  the  State  as  a  slave 
for  life.  In  1845,  colored  Camp-meetings,  and  similar 
outdoor  gatherings,  were  strictly  and  rigidly  forbidden. 
In   the    constitutional    convention   of    1850-51,    a    Mr. 


IS  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

Jacobs,  of  Worcester  county,  became  the  author  of  a  bill 
before  the  State  Legislature  which  was  generally  known  as 
the  "Jacobs'  law,"  and  which  stirred  the  free  blacks  as, 
perhaps,  no  other  measure  had  ever  aroused  them.  Through 
strenuous  efforts  the  bill  was  defeated.  It  had  for  its 
object  the  elimination  of  all  "free"  persons  of  color.  Among 
some  of  the  provisions  of  this  measure  were  the  following : 
No  black  should  be  capable  of  acquiring  real  estate  in  the 
future ;  he  could  not  by  lease  hold  any  property  longer  than 
a  year;  no  free  black  was  permitted  to  enter  the  State  to 
remain;  no  black  should  be  manumitted  except  on  condi- 
tion that  he  would  leave  the  State  within  thirtv  davs.  A 
second  "Jacobs'  bill"  was  adopted  by  the  Legislature  of 
1860,  but  ere  it  became  effective  had  to  be  submitted  to 
the  voters  of  the  State  at  the  next  ensuing  election.  This 
last  measure,  happily,  was  defeated  by  the  action  of  the 
people.  Somerset  county  was  the  only  county  in  the  State 
where  the  bill  received  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast.  In 
this  last  measure  manumission  was  absolutely  forbidden, 
and  the  way  made  easy  for  the  return  of  "free  blacks"  into 
slavery. 

It  was  in  Baltimore  that  William  Lloyd  Garrison  began 
the  publication  of  his  paper,  "The  Genius  of  Universal 
Emancipation,"  declaring  that  to  hold  slaves  longer  in 
bondage  was  both  unnecessary  and  tyrannical,  that  justice 
demanded  their  liberation,  and  that  to  recompense  slave- 
owners for  emancipation  would  be  paying  a  thief  for  giving 
up  stolen  property.  This  was  in  1829-30.  Most  stringent 
laws  were  passed,  with  exceedingly  heavy  fines  and  im- 
prisonment, for  any  person,  white  or  black,  who  in  any 
way  aided  in  the  circulation  of  abolition  literature.  These 
laws  were  particularly  severe  upon  "free  blacks."  Any 
such  person  upon  whom  such  literature  was  found  or  who 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  19 

called  for,  or  received  at  the  postoffice,  any  such  literature, 
upon  conviction,  was  liable  to  imprisonment  from  ten  to 
twenty  years.  And  if  any  one  knew  that  a  person  received 
or  possessed  such  literature,  he  was  liable  to  a  fine  of  $500 
and  two  months  in  jail  if  he  failed  to  report  the  same. 

In  Dorchester  count}',  at  the  April  term  of  the  Circuit 
Court,  1857,  a  free  black  was  tried  before  the  court  on  two 
indictments.  On  one  of  these  he  was  found  not  guilty,  but, 
on  the  other  for  knowingly  having  in  his  possession  a  copy 
of  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  he  was  given  the  minimum,  term 
of  ten  years.  But,  this  man,  in  1862,  on  the  representa- 
tion of  a  prominent  citizen  of  Baltimore,  that  he  had  been 
innocent  of  any  attempt  at  violation  of  the  law,  was  par- 
doned by  the  Governor  of  Maryland,  on  the  condition  of 
his  leaving  the  State.  It  was  claimed  that  the  book  was 
left  in  his  house  by  some  one  who  desired  to  get  him  into 
trouble. 


20  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 


THE  ISSUE  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

John  Wesley  characterized  Slavery  as  "The  sum  of  all 
villainies."  Certainly,  it  was  an  extremely  degrading  in- 
stitution. The  early  founders  of  the  Kepublic  soon  realized 
the  enormity  of  the  evil.  They  endeavored  to  overthrow 
it,  but  failed.  As  it  began  to  be  immensely  profitable  to 
the  people  living  in  the  southern  section  of  the  country,  its 
roots  became  firmly  entrenched,  and,  finally,  involved  the 
nation  in  one  of  the  most  distressing  and  painful  civil  wars 
in  the  annals  of  history. 

In  1773,  Patrick  Henry  said:  "A  serious  view  of  this 
subject  gives  a  gloomy  prospect  to  future  times."  The 
same  year,  George  Mason  wrote  to  the  Virginia  Legisla- 
ture :  "The  laws  of  impartial  Providence  may  avenge  our 
injustice  upon  our  posterity."  Adjusting  his  conduct  to 
his  convictions,  Thomas  Jefferson,  in  Virginia,  and  in  the 
Continental  Congress,  with  the  approval  of  Edmund  Pen- 
dleton, branded  the  slave  trade  as  piracy;  and  he  fixed  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  as  the  corner-stone  of 
America :  "All  men  are  created  equal  with  an  unalienable 
right  to  liberty."  In  laboring  in  the  direction  of  Emanci- 
pation, Jefferson  encountered  exceedingly  great  difficulties, 
and  was  forced  to  exclaim:  "I  tremble  for  my  country 
when  I  reflect  that  God  is  just,  that  His  justice  cannot 
sleep  forever."  It  was  the  desire  of  the  heart  of  George 
Washington  that  Virginia  should  remove  slavery  by  a 
public  act;  and  as  hope  grew  more  dim,  he  did  all  that  he 


cc 


MEN    OF    MAKYLAND.  21 

could  by  bequeathing  freedom  to  his  own  slaves.  Madison 
said :  "Slavery  is  the  greatest  evil  under  which  the  nation 
labors — a  portentous  evil — and  an  evil  moral,  political 
and  economical — a  sad  blot  on  our  free  country."  Old 
age  found  him  with  the  lamentation:  "No  satisfactor}^ 
plan  has  yet  been  devised  for  taking  out  the  stain." 

A  new  generation/'  says  Bancroft,  the  historian, 
sprang  up,  impatient  that  an  institution  to  which  they 
clung  should  be  condemned  as  inhuman,  unwise  and  un- 
just. In  the  throes  of  discontent  at  the  self-reproach  of 
their  fathers,  and  blinded  by  the  lustre  of  wealth  to  be 
acquired  by  the  culture  of  a  new  staple,  they  devised  the 
theory  that  slavery,  which  they  would  not  abolish,  was  not 
evil,  but  good.  They  turned  on  the  friends  of  Coloniza- 
tion, and  confidently  demanded :  'Why  take  black  men  from 
a  civilized  and  Christian  country,  where  their  labor  is  a 
source  of  immense  gain,  and  a  power  to  control  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world,  and  send  them  to  a  land  of  ignorance, 
idolatry,  and  indolence,  which  was  the  home  of  their  fore- 
fathers, but  not  theirs  ?  Slavery  is  a  blessing.  Were  they 
not  in  their  ancestral  land  naked,  scarcely  lifted  above 
brutes,  ignorant  of  the  course  of  the  sun,  controlled  by 
nature  ?  And  in  their  new  abode  have  they  not  been  taught 
to  know  the  difference  of  the  seasons,  to  plow  and  plant  and 
reap,  to  drive  oxen,  to  tame  the  horse,  to  exchange  their 
scanty  dialect  for  the  richest  of  all  the  languages  among 
men,  and  the  stupid  adoration  of  follies  for  the  purest  reli- 
gion. And  since  Slavery  is  good  for  the  blacks,  it  is  good 
for  their  masters,  bringing  opulence  and  the  opportunity 
of  educating  a  race.  The  Slavery  of  the  black  is  good  in 
itself;  he  shall  serve  the  white  man  forever."  And  nature 
which  better  understood  the  quality  of  fleeting  interest  and 
passion,  laughed  as  it  caught  the  echo,  'man'  and  'for- 
ever.' " 


22  MEN    OF    MARYLAND, 

By  and  by,  the  issue  was  forced.  A  slave  was  not  a 
person,  but  "property."  If  such  a  black  "property"  came 
into  a  free  state  it  was  contended  that  he  could  be  treated 
the  same  as  though  he  were  a  horse  or  a  mule,,  and  his 
"master"  could  go  anywhere  in  the  country  and  recover  his 
property.  The  matter  was  carried  to  the  Supreme  Court. 
What  followed  we  shall  let  the  historian,  Bancroft,  tell. 
Says  Bancroft: 

"The  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  without  any 
necessity  or  occasion,  volunteered  to  come  to  the  rescue  of 
the  theory  of  slavery;  and  from  his  court  there  lay  no 
appeal,  but  to  the  bar  of  humanity  and  history.  Against 
the  Constitution,  against  the  memory  of  the  nation,  against 
a  previous  decision,  against  a  series  of  enactments  he  de- 
cided that  the  slave  is  property ;  that  slave  property  is  en- 
titled to  no  less  protection  than  any  other  property;  that 
the  Constitution  upholds  it  in  every  Territory  against  any 
act  of  a  local  Legislature  and  even  against  Congress  itself; 
or,  as  the  President  for  that  term  tersely  promulgated  the 
saying :  "Kansas  is  as  much  a  slave  State  as  South  Carolina 
or  Georgia;  slavery,  by  virtue  of  the  Constitution,  exists 
in  every  Territory."  Bancroft  continues:  "Moreover,  the 
Chief  Justice,  in  his  elaborate  opinion,  announced  what 
had  never  been  heard  from  any  magistrate  of  Greece,  or 
Rome ;  what  was  unknown  to  civil  law,  and  feudal  law,  and 
common  law  and  constitutional  law;  unknown  to  Jay,  to 
Eutledge,  Ellsworth,  and  Marshall — that  there  are  'slave 


races.' " 


The  crisis  had  come.  To  the  people  the  issue  was  carried. 
The  party  of  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  maintained  that  a  col- 
ored person  was  not  a  "person,"  in  the  ordinary  use  of  that 
word.  That  such  was  "property,"  and,  as  such,  should  be 
protected  in  the  same  essential  manner  as  a  horse  or  a 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  23 

mule,  in  any  and  every  section  of  the  country.  That  is,  if 
a  colored  person,  say  of  Alabama,  by  some  means  made  his 
way  to  Pennsylvania,  this  human  "property"  should  be 
just  as  secure  to  his  "owner"  as  though  he  were  in  Alabama. 
It  was  the  duty  of  the  government  to  return  such  human 
"property"  to  his  owner,  in  the  same  manner  as  though  he 
had  been  a  horse  that  had  gotten  at  large.  When  it  was 
perceived  by  a  number  of  white  people,  living  in  the  South- 
ern section  of  the  country,  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
nation  were  not  disposed  to  take  such  a  view  with  respect  to 
human  "property,"  then,  many  of  the  Southern  States  con- 
cluded that  they  would  peacefully  withdraw  from  the 
Union,  and  set  up  a  central  government  for  themselves, 
the  "corner-stone"  of  which  new  government  should  be  the 
perpetual  slavery  of  the  people  of  African  descent.  Mr. 
Alexander  H.  Stephens,  Vice-President  of  the  late  Con- 
federate States,  declared  most  plainly  this  purpose. 

But,  the  party  of  Mr.  Abraham  Lincoln  resolutely  ob- 
jected to  such  procedure.  Mr.  Lincoln  maintained  that 
no  State  could  withdraw  from  the  Union.  The  Southern 
people  claimed  that  they  had  the  right  to  withdraw;  Mr. 
Lincoln  solemnly  denied  the  existence  of  such  a  right. 
The  Civil  War  was  the  result.  The  object  of  the  South- 
erners was  to  emancipate  themselves  from  the  Union,  while 
that  of  the  party  of  Lincoln  was  to  force  them  to  remain 
in  the  Union.  The  Emancipation  of  slaves  issued  from 
the  controversy.  The  position  assumed  by  the  party  of 
Lincoln  is  most  aptly  stated  by  Mr.  Lincoln  himself  in  his 
first  Message  to  Congress,  a  portion  of  which  follows: 

"Our  States  have  neither  more  nor  less  power  than  that 
reserved  to  them  in  the  Union  by  the  Constitution — no 
one  of  them  having  been  a  State  out  of  the  Union.  The 
original  ones  passed  into  the  Union  even  before  they  cast 
off  their  British  colonial  dependence ;  and  the  old  ones  each 


2-1  M\.\    ()!•'    MARYLAND. 

came  into  the  Union  directly  from  a  condition  of  depend- 
ence, excepting  Texas.  And  even  Texas,  in  its  temporary 
independence,  was  never  designated  a  State.  The  new 
ones  only  took  the  designation  of  States  on  coming  into  the 
Union,  while  that  name  was  first  adopted  by  the  old  ones 
in  and  by  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Therein  the 
'United  Colonies'  were  declared  to  be  'free  and  Inde- 
pendent States;'  but,  even  then,  the  object  plainly  was  not 
to  declare  their  independence  of  one  another  or  of  the 
Union,  but  directly  the  contrary,  as  their  mutual  pledge 
and  their  mutual  action  before,  at  the  time,  and  after- 
wards abundantly  show.  The  express  plighting  of  faith 
by  each  and  all  of  the  original  thirteen  in  the  articles  of 
Confederation,  two  years  later,  that  the  Union  shall  be 
perpetual,  is  most  conclusive.  Having  never  been  States, 
either  in  substance  or  in  name  outside  of  the  Union, 
whence  this  magical  omnipotence  of  'States'  Eights,'  as- 
serting a  claim  of  power  lawfully  to  destroy  the  Union 
itself?  The  States  have  their  status  in  the  Union,  and 
they  have  no  other  legal  status.  If  they  break  from  this 
they  can  only  do  so  against  law  and  by  revolution.  The 
Union,  and  not  themselves  separately,  procured  their  in- 
dependence and  their  liberty.  By  conquest  or  purchase 
the  Union  gave  each  of  them  whatever  independence  or  lib- 
erty it  has.  The  Union  is  older  than  any  of  the  States, 
and,  in  fact,  it  created  them  as  States.  Originally  some 
dependent  colonies  made  the  Union,  and  in  turn  the  Union 
threw  off  their  old  dependence  for  them,  and  made  them 
States,  such  as  they  are.  Not  one  of  them  ever  had  a 
State  Constitution  independent  of  the  Union.  .  .  .  What 
is  now  combatted  is  the  position  that  secession  is  consistent 
with  the  Constitution — is  lawful  and  peaceful.  It  is  not 
contended  that  there  is  any  express  law  for  it ;  and  nothing 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  25 

should  ever  be  implied  as  law  which  leads  to  unjust  or 
absurd  consequences.  The  nation  purchased  with  money 
the  countries  out  of  which  several  of  these  States  were 
formed;  is  it  just  that  they  shall  go  off  without  leave  and 
without  refunding?  The  nation  paid  very  large  sums 
/(in  the  aggregate,  I  believe,  nearly  a  hundred  millions) 
to  relieve  Florida  of  the  aboriginal  tribes;  is  it  just  that 
she  shall  now  be  off  without  consent  or  without  making  any 
return?  The  nation  is  now  in  debt  for  money  applied  to 
the  benefit  of  these  so-called  seceding  States  in  common 
with  the  rest;  is  it  just  either  that  creditors  shall  go  unpaid 
or  the  remaining  States  pay  the  whole?  A  part  of  the 
national  debt  was  contracted  to  pay  the  old  debts  of  Texas; 
is  it  just  that  she  shall  leave  and  pay  no  part  of  this  her- 
self? 

"Again,  if  one  State  may  secede,  so  may  another;  and 
when  all  shall  have  seceded,  none  is  left  to  pay  the  debts. 
Is  this  quite  just  to  creditors  ?  Did  we  notify  them  of  this 
sage  view  of  ours  when  we  borrowed  their  money?  If  we 
now  recognize  this  doctrine  by  allowing  the  seceders  to  go 
in  peace,  it  is  difficult  to  see  what  we  can  do  if  others 
choose  to  go,  or  to  extort  terms  upon  which  they  will 
promise  to  remain.  The  seceders  insist  that  our  Con- 
stitution admits  of  secession.  They  have  assumed  to  make 
a  national  Constitution  of  their  own,  in  which,  of  neces- 
sit}r,  they  have  either  discarded  or  retained  the  right  of 
secession,  as  they  insist  it  exists  in  ours.  If  they  have  dis- 
carded it,  by  their  own  construction  of  ours,  they  show 
that  to  be  consistent  they  must  secede  from  one  another 
whenever  they  shall  find  it  the  easiest  way  of  settling  their 
debts  or  effecting  any  other  selfish  or  unjust  object.  The 
principle  itself  is  one  of  disintegration,  upon  which  no  gov- 
ernment can  possibly  endure," 


26  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

The  cause  of  the  Union  prevailed.  In  accomplishing 
such  victory  it  became  necessary,  as  a  war  measure,  for  the 
President  to  declare  ''forever  free"  the  "human  property" 
held  as  such,  by  those  who  had  taken  up  arms  against  the 
Union.  And  so  "freedom*'  came.  AYhile,  technically,  the 
war  was  waged  to  preserve  the  Union,  yet  "freedom  of  the 
slaves"  was  inseparably  connected  with  the  preservation  of 
the  Union. 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  27 


<** 


IRA  FREDERICK  ALDRIDGE. 

Ira  Frederick  Aldridge  was  born  in  Bel  Air,  Maryland, 
in  1801.  About  the  year  1826  he  became  the  "valet"  of 
the  celebrated  actor,  Edmund  Keene.  Aldridge  soon  dis- 
covered that  he  would  like  to  be  an  actor,  and  Keene  en- 
couraged him.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  thirties,  in 
company  with  Mr.  Keene,  he  left  the  country  for  Europe 
where  a  magnificent  career  awaited  him.  "The  Black 
Roseius,"  as  he  was  called,  created  such  a  furor  as  a 
tragedian,  that  he  was  frequently  carried  from  the  theatres 
where  he  performed  upon  the  shoulders  of  his  enthusiastic 
auditors  to  his  hotel.  He  was  loaded  down  with  medals, 
insignia  of  the  various  royal  orders,  the  gifts  of  Kings  and 
Queens  whom  he  had  charmed  and  delighted  by  his  magni- 
ficent impersonations  of  the  characters  he  assumed. 

He  performed  in  the  principal  cities  of  Europe,  and  it  is 
recorded  of  him  that  when  he  played  Iago  in  the  city  of 
Moscow,  in  Eussia,  a  number  of  students  who  had  witnessed 
the  performance  unhitched  the  horses  from  the  actor's  car- 
riage, after  the  play,  and  dragged  him  in  triumph  to  his 
lodgings.  In  Sweden  and  Germany,  and  England,  his 
name  was  a  household  word.  He  stood  in  the  front  rank 
with  the  greatest  actors  of  his  day,  and  the  nobility  of  Eng- 
land held  him  in  the  same  regard  and  treated  him  with  the 
same  consideration  that  Americans  bestowed  upon  Keene, 
or  Booth,  or  any  other  great  actor  who  had  made  himself 
famous.     Ira   Aldridge   gave  no   performance   in   Europe 


28  MEN    OF   MARYLAND. 

which  was  not  witnessed  by  one  or  more  members  of  the 
royal  family  of  the  country  he  was  in.  In  personal  ap- 
pearanec  he  was  very  dark  in  complexion,  with  a  full,  round 
face  which  was  covered  with  a  closely  shaven  beard.  He 
was  nearly  six  feet  in  height.  He  had  large  lustrous  eyes 
and  a  resonant  voice,  which  he  kept  under  perfect  control. 
As  Aaron,  in  "Titus  Adronicus,"  and  as  the  Moor,  in 
''Othello/'  he  established  his  fame  as  the  most  realistic 
actor  who  up  to  that  period  had  ever  assumed  those  roles. 
The  newspapers  of  that  period  showered  unstinted  praise 
upon  this  remarkable  colored  man,  and  he  was  lionized  in 
fashionable  society  and  feted  by  the  nobility;  the  king  of 
Sweden  knighted  him,  and  the  Emperor  of  Russia  con- 
ferred a  decoration  upon  him.  His  medals  and  decorations 
from  other  personages  were  estimated  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  1867,  to  be  worth  over  $250,000.  Aldridge  owned 
nine  villas,  situated  in  various  parts  of  Europe,  and  each 
of  them  handsomely  furnished.  His  principal  residence 
was  in  the  city  of  London,  England,  where  he  entertained 
in  a  royal  manner  the  legions  of  friends  who  sought  his 
company  and  that  of  his  charming  wife,  a  Swedish 
baroness,  by  whom  he  had  three  children.  He  died  in 
1867  as  Sir  Ira  Aldridge,  K.  C.  M.,  and  a  host  of  other 
titles  given  him  at  various  times. 


<H> 


MEN    OF   MARYLAND.  29 


BENJAMIN  BANNEKER. 

Benjamin  Banneker,  the  Negro  astronomer  and  scientist, 
was  born  in  Baltimore  county,  near  Ellicott's  Mills,  on  the 
9th  of  November,  1732.  Banneker's  grandmother  was  a 
white  woman,  Mary  Welch,  who  was  sent  out  from  Eng- 
land, and,  who,  having  served  her  master  for  seven  years, 
purchased  a  farm  and  two  black  slaves.  One  of  these 
slaves  she  married.  Benjamin  seems  to  have  been  quite  a 
favorite  of  his  grandmother  who  taught  him  how  to  read. 
About  the  same  time  there  was  a  "pay  school"  in  the  neigh- 
borhood to  which  a  few  colored  children  were  admitted.  A 
part  of  Benjamin's  education  was  secured  in  this  school. 

Very  early  in  life  Banneker  showed  fondness  for  me- 
chanical knowledge.  He  became  much  interested  in  the 
construction  of  the  Mills  which  were  then  being  erected 
nearby.  Mr.  George  Ellicott  was  very  much  drawn  towards 
Banneker,  and  gave  him  the  use  of  his  library,  and  such 
mechanical  tools  as  were  available.  In  1754,  Banneker 
constructed  a  clock,  which  not  only  told  the  time  of  day, 
but  struck  the  hour.  Through  correspondence,  Banneker 
became  acquainted  with  scientific  men  in  all  parts  of  the 
world.  Upon  invitation  of  the  Commissioner,  he  assisted 
in  the  laying  out  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  After  his 
return  from  this  work,  in  1791,  he  got  out  his  first 
almanac,  for  the  year  1792.  Before  it  went  to  press,  he 
sent  a  manuscript  copy  to  Thomas  Jefferson,  seeking  to 
interest  Mr.  Jefferson  in  the  freedom  of  the  slave.     The 


"0  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

letter   is   here   given,   together    with    the    reply    which    it 
elicited  from  Mr.  Jefferson: 

Maryland,  Baltimore   County, 
Near  Ellicott's  Lower  Mills,  August  19,  1791. 
To  Thomas  Jefferson,  Secretary  of  State,  Philadelphia: 

Sir — I  am  fully  sensible  of  the  greatness  of  that  freedom 
which  I  take  on  the  present  occasion,  a  liberty,  which  to 
me  scarcely  allowable,  when  I  reflect  on  that  distinguished 
and  honorable  station  in  which  you  stand,  and  the  almost 
general  prejudice  and  prepossession  which  is  prevalent  in 
the  world  against  those  of  my  complexion. 

I  suppose  it  is  a  truth  too  well  attested  to  you  to  need  a 
proof  here,  that  we  are  a  race  of  beings  who  have  long- 
labored  under  the  abuse  and  censure  of  the  world,  that  we 
have  long  been  considered  rather  brutish,  than  as  human, 
and  scarcely  capable  of  mental  endowments. 

Sir,  I  hope  I  may  with  safety  admit,  in  consequence  of 
that  report  which  hath  reached  me,  that  you  are  a  man  far 
less  inflexible  in  sentiments  of  this  nature  than  many 
others;  that  you  are  measurably  friendly,  and  ready  to  lend 
your  aid  and  assistance  to  our  relief,  from  the  many  dis- 
tresses and  numerous  calamities  to  which  we  are  reduced. 
Now,  Sir,  if  this  is  founded  in  truth  I  apprehend  you  will 
embrace  every  opportunity  to  eradicate  that  train  of 
absurd  and  false  ideas  and  opinions,  which  so  generally 
prevail  with  respect  to  us;  and  that  your  sentiments  arc 
concurrent  with  mine,  which  are — that  one  Universal 
Father  hath  given  being  to  us  all,  and  that  He  hath  not 
only  made  us  all  of  one  flesh,  but  that  He  hath  also,  with- 
out  partiality,  afforded  us  all  the  same  sensations,  and  that, 
however  variable  we  may  be  in  society  and  religion,  how- 
ever diversified  in  situation  and  color,  we  are  all  of  the 
same  family  and  stand  in  the  same  relation  to  Him. 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  31 

Sir,  if  these  sentiments,  of  which  you  have  long  been  . 
persuaded  fully,  I  hope  you  cannot  but  acknowledge  that 
it  is  the  indispensable  duty  of  those  who  maintain  for 
themselves  the  rights  of  human  nature,  and  who  profess 
the  obligations  of  Christianity,  to  extend  their  power  and 
influence  to  the  relief  of  every  part  of  the  human  race, 
from  whatever  burden  or  oppression  they  unjustly  labor 
under;  and  this  I  apprehend  a  full  conviction  of  the  truth 
and  obligation  of  these  principles  should  lead  us  all  to. 

Sir,  I  have  long  been  convinced  that  if  your  love  for 
yourselves  and  for  those  inestimable  laws  which  preserve 
to  you  the  rights  of  human  nature,  was  founded  on  sin- 
cerity, you  could  not  but  be  solicitous  that  every  individual, 
of  whatever  distinction,  might  enjoy  equally  with  you  the 
blessings  thereof;  neither  could  you  rest  satised  short  of 
the  most  active  diffusion  of  your  exertions,  in  order  to  their 
promotion  from  any  state  of  degradation  to  which  the  un- 
justifiable cruelty  and  barbarism  of  men  may  have  re- 
duced them. 

Sir,  I  freely  and  cheerfully  acknowledge  that  I  am  of 
the  African  race;  and,  in  that  color  which  is  natural  to 
them,  of  the  deepest  dye;  and  it  is  under  a  sense  of  the 
most  profound  gratitude  to  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the 
Universe  that  I  now  confess  to  you  that  I  am  not  under 
that  state  of  tyrannical  thraldom  and  inhuman  captivity 
to  which  too  many  of  my  brethren  are  doomed;  but  that 
I  have  abundantly  tasted  of  the  fruition  of  those  blessings 
which  proceed  from  that  free  and  unequal  liberty  with 
which  you  are  favored,  and  which  I  hope  you  will  willingly 
allow  you  have  received  from  the  immediate  Hand  of  that 
Being  from  whom  proceedeth  "every  good  and  perfect 
gift." 

Sir,  suffer  me  to  call  to  your  mind  that  time  in  which 


32  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

the  arms  and  tyranny  of  the  British  Crown  were  exerted 
with  every  powerful  effort,  in  order  to  reduce  you  to  a 
state  of  servitude.  Look  back,  I  entreat  you,  to  the 
variety  of  dangers  to  which  you  were  exposed;  reflect  on 
that  time  in  which  every  human  aid  appeared  unavailable, 
and  in  which  even  hope  and  fortitude  wore  the  aspect  of 
inability  to  the  conflict,  and  you  cannot  but  be  led  to  a 
serious  and  grateful  sense  of  your  miraculous  and  provi- 
dential preservation. 

You  cannot  but  acknowledge  that  the  present  freedom 
and  tranquility  which  you  enjoy  you  have  mercifully  re- 
ceived, and  that  it  is  the  peculiar  blessing  of  Heaven. 

This,  Sir,  was  a  time  in  which  you  clearly  saw  into  the 
injustice  of  a  state  of  slavery  and  in  which  you  had  just 
apprehensions  of  the  horrors  of  its  condition ;  it  was  now, 
Sir,  that  your  abhorrence  thereof  was  so  excited  that  you. 
publicly  held  forth  this  true  and  invaluable  doctrine,  which 
is  worthy  to  be  recorded  and  remembered  in  all  succeeding 
ages : 

"We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men 
are  created  equal,  and  that  they  are  endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights,  that  amongst  these 
are  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

Here,  Sir,  was  a  time  in  which  your  tender  feelings  for 
yours  engaged  you  thus  to  declare;  you  were  then  im- 
pressed with  a  proper  idea  of  the  just  valuation  of  1  iberty, 
and  the  free  possession  of  those  blessings  to  which  you 
were  entitled  by  nature,  but  Sir,  how  pitiable  it  is  to  re- 
flect, that  although  you  were  so  fully  convinced  of  the 
benevolence  of  the  Father  of  Mankind,  and  of  His  equal 
and  impartial  distribution  of  those  rights  and  privileges 
which  He  had  conferred  upon  them,  that  you  should,  at 
the  same  time,  counteract  His  mercies,   in  detaining  by 


MEN    01*'   MARYLAND.  33 

fraud  and  violence  so  numerous  a  part  of  my  brethren, 
under  groaning  captivity  and  oppression;  that  you  should, 
at  the  same  time,  be  found  guilty  of  that  most  criminal 
act,  which  you  professedly  detested  in  others  with  respect 
to  yourselves. 

Sir,  I  suppose  that  your  knowledge  of  the  situation  of 
my  brethren  is  too  extensive  to  need  a  recital  here ;  neither 
shall  I  presume  to  prescribe  methods  by  which  they  may 
be  relieved,  otherwise  than  by  recommending  to  you,  and 
to  all  others,  to  wean  yourselves  from  those  narrow  prej- 
udices which  you  have  imbibed  with  respect  to  them,  and 
as  Job  proposed  to  his  friends,  "Put  your  souls  in  their 
souls'  stead."  Thus  shall  your  hearts  be  enlarged  with 
kindness  and  benevojence  towards  them,  and  thus  shall  you 
need  neither  the  direction  of  myself  nor  others  in  what 
manner  to  proceed  therein. 

And  now,  Sir,  although  my  sympathy  and  affection  for 
my  brethren  hath  caused  my  enlargement  thus  far,  I 
ardently  hope  that  your  candor  and  generosity  will  plead 
with  you  in  my  behalf,  when  I  make  known  to  you  that  it 
was  not  originally  my  design,  but  having  taken  up  my  pen 
in  order  to  direct  to  you,  as  a  present,  a  copy  of  an  Almanac 
which  I  have  calculated  for  the  ensuing  year,  I  was  unex- 
pectedly led  thereto. 

This  calculation,  Sir,  is  the  production  of  my  arduous 
study  in  this,  my  advanced  stage  of  my  life;  for  having 
long  had  undoubted  desires  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
secrets  of  nature,  I  have  had  to  gratify  my  curiosity 
therein,  through  my  own  assiduous  application  to  astron- 
omical study,  in  which  I  need  not  recount  to  you  the  many 
difficulties  and  disadvantages  I  have  had  to  encounter. 

And  though  I  had  almost  declined  to  make  my  calcula- 
tions for  the  ensuing  year,  in  consequence  of  the  time  I 


34  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

had  allotted  thereto,  being  taken  up  at  the  Federal  Terri- 
tory, by  the  request  of  Mr.  Andrew  Ellicott;  yet  finding 
myself  under  several  engagements  to  printers  of  this  state, 
to  whom  I  had  communicated  my  design,  on  my  return  to 
my  place  of  residence,  I  industriously  applied  myself 
thereto,  which  I  hope  I  have  accomplished  with  correctness 
and  accuracy,  a  copy  of  which  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to 
address  to  you,  and  which  I  hope  you  will  favorably  re- 
ceive, and  although  you  may  have  the  opportunity  of 
perusing  it  after  its  publication,  yet  I  choose  to  send  it  to 
you  in  manuscript  previous  thereto,  that  thereby  you  might 
not  only  have  an  earlier  inspection,  but  that  you  might 
also  view  it  in  my  own  hand-writing. 

And  now,  Sir,  I  shall  conclude,  and  subscribe  myself 
with  the  most  profound  respect, 

Your  most  obedient,  humble  servant, 

B.  Banneker. 
To  Mr.  Thomas  Jefferson,  Secretary  of  State : 

Mr.  Jefferson  at  once  replied  and  said :  "Sir : — I  thank 
you  sincerely  for  your  letter  and  the  Almanac  it  contained. 
Nobody  wishes  more  than  I  do  to  see  such  proofs  as  you 
exhibit  that  Nature  has  given  to  our  black  brethren  talent 
equal  to  those  of  the  other  colors  of  men,  and  that  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  want  of  them  is  owing  merely  to  the  de- 
graded condition  of  their  existence  both  in  Africa  and 
America." 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  35 


SCIPIO  BEANES. 

Scipio  Beanes  was  born  in  Prince  George's  county, 
Maryland^  in  the  year  1793.  When  he  was  about  twenty 
years  of  age,  he  removed  to  the  city  of  Washington. 
Beanes  was  born  a  slave,  and  having  obtained  permission 
of  his  master  to  attend  a  school  conducted  in  that  county, 
he  obtained  the  elementary  principles  of  an  English  educa- 
tion. In  1818,  his  master  made  him  a  present  of  his  free- 
dom. The  next  year  he  married  a  Miss  Harriet  Bell,  of 
Washington.  About  the  first  of  the  year,  1825,  Beanes 
"experienced  a  change  of  heart,"  and  united  with  the  Afri- 
can Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Sometime  after,  having 
been  commissioned  by  the  local  church  as  an  "exhorter," 
still  later,  he  was  commissioned  by  Bishop  Allen  to  make 
a  visitation  of  the  churches  on  the  Eastern  Shore.  His 
work  there  was  quite  successful.  He  remained  laboring  in 
this  work  as  long  as  his  health  permitted,  "but  his  delicate 
constitution,  the  severity  of  the  winter,  and  the  bad  accom- 
modations which  were  afforded,  compelled  him  to  abandon 
the  field  and  return  home.  In  his  homeward  journey  the 
snow  was  so  deep  that  he  was  compelled  to  quit  the  saddle, 
and  on  foot  pursue  his  journey,  leading  his  horse  nearly 
the  whole  distance  from  Annapolis  to  Washington.'7  He 
was  seized  with  deep  pulmonary  affection,  and  he  was 
advised  by  his  physician  to  seek  some  warmer  climate. 
In  .1826,  he  left  for  Portau  Prince,  Haiti,  to  improve  his 
health.     He  remained  there  one  year,  his  health  improv- 


36  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

ing,  and  in  the  meantime  he  performed  valuable  mission- 
ary services.  On  his  return  to  this  country,  he  met  the 
General  Conference,  and  he  was  commissioned  as  a  regu- 
lar missionary  to  Haiti  from  the  African  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  In  1828  he  returned  to  Haiti.  After  a 
year  or  so  there  he  again  returned  to  this  country,  and  in 
1832  he  went  back  to  Port  au  Prince,  "the  Lord  blessing 
his  labors  in  the  souls  added  to  the  Church."  Of  him, 
Bishop  Payne,  the  historian  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church,  fur- 
ther savs : 

"His  health  improved  at  first,  then  began  to  fail.  H»?. 
was  a  great  sufferer,  but  a  patient,  uncomplaining  one, 
and  without  flinching  he  continued  to  labor.  It  was  his 
wife's  desire  to  return  home,  but  the  rapid  encroachments 
of  the  disorder  prevented  this,  and  he  was  content  to  re- 
main and  die  in  Haiti,  saying: 

"Heaven  is  as  near  to  Port  au  Prince  as  to  Washington.'' 
He  literally  finished  his  life  and  his  labors  together,  for 
we  are  told  that  he  had  baptized  and  administered  the 
Lord's  Supper  on  a  Sabbath  (January  12,  1835),  and  went 
home  to  Heaven  the  next  morning  at  dawn,  in  the  42nd 
year  of  his  age.  He  was  generally  beloved  by  the  people, 
it  seems,  and  esteemed  as  well.  We  are  told  that  he  per- 
formed the  marriage  of  the  French  ambassador,  Mr.  Denny, 
himself  a  Methodist.  His  labors  were  confined,  so  said  his 
wife,  entirely  to  the  city  of  Port  au  Prince,  because  his 
health  did  not  permit  him  to  travel  over  the  Island.  So 
much  we  know  of  the  life  and  death  of  our  first  worker  in 
the  foreign  missionarv  field  of  the  West  Indies." 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  37 


DANIEL  COKER. 

In  view  of  conditions  associated  with  human  slavery  it 
is  not  at  all  strange  that  definite  data  with  respect  to  the 
birth  of  a  number  of  colored  men,  who  afterwards  became 
distinguished,  is  most  difficult  to  obtain.  However,  there 
can  scarcely  be  any  doubt  that  Daniel  Coker  was  born  in 
Frederick  County,  Maryland  during  the  latter  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  He  was  on  hand  in  sufficient  time 
to  be  identified  with  the  very  "fathers  of  Methodism,"  in 
this  country.  It  so  happened  that  a  widowed  white  woman, 
Susan  Coker,  having  already  a  son  by  her  first  husband, 
took  for  her  second  husband  a  colored  slave.  From  this 
union  there  was  born  a  colored  boy,  who  was  known, 
for  a  long  while,  as  "Isaac  Wright."  There  grew  up  an 
affectionate  fondness  between  the  white  and  the  colored 
1  boy,  half-brothers.  The  white  son  of  Susan  Coker  posi- 
i  tively  refused  to  go  to  school  unless  Isaac  accompanied 
him. 

So  Isaac  had  to  go  as  his  "valet."  In  the  long  run,  Isaac 
got  more  out  of  the  schooling  than  his  white  half-brother. 
!  Isaac  was  very  studious,  and  wonderfully  improved  the 
opportunity.  He  mastered  the  higher  branches,  as  well 
as  the  classics.  As  a  result  of  this  remarkable  achievement 
Isaac  became  a  little  seminary  of  learning  in  himself.  He 
ran  off  and  got  to  New  York.  He  soon  came  into  contact 
with  Bishop  Asbury  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


38  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

Iii  course  of  time,  Bishop  Asbury  ordained  him.  After 
spending  some  time  in  New  York,  he  finally  made  up  his 
mind  to  come  to  Baltimore.  But,  in  the  eyes  of  the  law 
of  Maryland  he  was  still  a  slave.  He  kept  in  secret  in 
Baltimore  until  friends  had  raised  sufficient  money  with 
which  to  purchase  his  freedom.  With  freedom  came  in- 
creased activity  and  boldness.  For  a  long  while  he  taught 
school  in  connection  with  Sharp  St.  Church.  His  school 
increased  from  a  few  pupils,  when  he  began,  until  it  reached 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  previous  to  his  closing  of 
the  same.  While  in  this  work  he  became  the  author  of  a 
financial  plan  which  raised  a  considerable  sum  for  Sharp 
St.  Church.  He  educated  a  score  of  the  best  educated 
colored  men  of  that  early  day,  conspicuous  among  the  num- 
ber was  the  Eev.  William  Douglass,  afterwards  rector  of 
St.  Thomas  Episcopal  Church,  Philadelphia.  But,  his  real 
work,  that  by  which  his  name  will  be  perpetuated,  was  the 
organization  of  ' 'Bethel  African  Church"  Baltimore,  and, 
later,  the  conspicuous  part  he  took  in  the  organization  of 
the  connection  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  1816. 

It  wTas  upon  the  advice  and  encouragement  of  Daniel 
Coker  that  a  number  of  persons  drew  out  of  Sharp  St. 
Church,  and  under  his  direction,  organized  "Bethel."  But 
we  should  have  stated  that  wdien  he  ran  away  to  New  York, 
in  order  to  evade  slave-hunters,  and  being  returned  into 
slavery,  he  discarded  the  name  of  "Isaac  Wright"  and  as 
sumed  that  of  Daniel  Coker.  By  this  he  was  ever  afterwards 
known.  When  the  16  persons  assembled  in  April,  1816,  in 
the  city  of  Philadelphia  to  organize  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  Daniel  Coker  was  the  "brain"  of  that 
historic  convention.  All  the  rest  were,  practically,  illiterate 
Coker  had  the  distinction  of  beino-  the  first  colored  man  ever 


MEN"    OF   MARYLAND.  39 

elected  as  a  Bishop  in  America.  He  was  elected  Bishop 
bf  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  immediately 
following  its  formation.  But,  the  next  day  he  declined 
the  election,  and  Eichard  Allen  was  thereupon  elected  to 
'the  same  office.  While  Coker  was  a  brainy  man,  there 
Was  hardly  a  comparison  of  him  with  Eichard  Allen  along 

the  line  of  piety  and  strong  character.    As  far  back  as  1810 

I 

Daniel  Coker  published,  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  a  booklet 
m  the  Slavery  Question.  The  title  page  runs  in  the  follow- 
ing language: 

) 

A  DIALOGUE  BETWEEN  A  VIEGINIAN  AND  AN 
(  AFEICAN  MINISTEE. 


Written  by  the  Eev.  Daniel  Coker,  a  Descendent  of  Africa, 

Minister  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

in  Baltimore,  Humbly  Dedicated  to  the  People  of 

Color  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

This   little    volume   contains   about   forty-three    pages. 

fAfter  the  slavery  argument  is  finished,  the  writer  gives  a 

'List  of  the  Names  of  African  Local  Preachers"  at  that 

time  in  the  United  States.     The  author  also  informs  us 

'  ;hat  the  number  of  African  Methodists  in  the  United  States 

it  that  period  was  31,884. 

Dr.  Martin  E.  Delaney  gives  Coker  the  credit  for  origin- 
ating the  plan  Mowed  later  by  Garrison  in  the  Abolition 
Movement. 

In  1820,  Daniel  Coker  left  the  country,  among  the  first 
Sand  of  emigrants,  to  find  a  home  and  untrameled  freedom 
n  Africa.  In  one  of  the  early  epistles  coming  from  Li- 
beria, Daniel  Coker  writes:  "We  have  met  trials;  we  are 
■  Hit  a  handful ;  our  provisions  are  running  low ;  we  are  in 


40  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

a  strange,  heathen  land ;  we  have  not  heard  from  America, 
and  know  not  whether  provisions  or  people  will  be  sent  out; 
yet,  thank  the  Lord,  my  confidence  is  strong  in  the  veracity 
of  his  promises.  Tell  my  brethren  to  come;  fear  not;  this 
land  is  good;  it  only  wants  men  to  possess  it.  I  have 
opened  a  little  Sabbath-school  for  native  children.  Oh,  it 
would  do  your  hearts  good  to  see  the  little  naked  sons  of 
Africa  around  me.  Tell  the  Colored  People  to  come  up 
to  the  help  of  the  Lord.  Let  nothing  discourage  the  Society 
or  the  Colored  People." 

Upon  the  death  of  the  regular  officer  of  the  colonists, 
Mr.  Coker  was  in  charge  of  affairs.  Sometime  after  he  had 
given  up  this  work,  he  emigrated  from  Liberia  to  the 
British  colony  of  Sierra  Leon.  There  he  planted  a  church, 
and  reared  a  family.    The  late  Bishop  Payne  says : 

''The  building  in  which  his  congregation  worshiped  is 
still  (in  1852)  standing;  it  is  built  of  stone,  and  is  one 
of  the  largest  in  the  city  of  Freetown.  Besides  the  pulpit 
is  a  tablet  bearing  a  memorial  of  his  life  and  death. 
Two  of  his  sons  grew  up  to  manhood.  One  of  them 
became  a  successful  trader  with  the  natives  of  the  interior, 
and  at  his  death  endowed  his  father's  church;  the  other 
was  living  as  late  as  1861,  and  was  then  inspector  of  police 
at  Sierra  Leon." 


&4> 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  41 

FREDERICK  DOUGLASS. 

Frederick  Douglass  is,  possibly,  the  best  known  and  most 
listinguished  of  the  "Men  of  Maryland."     Although  the 
3xact  date  of  his  birth  is  not  definitely  known,  yet  it  is 
agreed  that  he  was  born  in  the  month  of  February,  1817, 
it  Tuckahoe,  near  Easton,  Talbot  county,  Maryland.     His 
nother  was  a  slave,  and  his  father  was  a  white  man,  whom 
le  never  knew.    He  never  saw  his  mother  after  his  eighth 
rear.    When  he  was  ten  years  of  age,  his  master  Col.  Lloyd, 
'lent"  him  to  a  friend  in  Baltimore.     In  Baltimore  he 
worked  at  the  trade  of  a  ship-carpenter.     When  he  was 
ifteen  years  of  age  his  master  permitted  him  to  hire  his 
>wn  time,  which  he  did,  paying  three  dollars  a  week.    As 
,  very  small  boy  Frederick  had  a  keen  thirst  for  knowledge, 
fhich  had  been  stimulated  by  hearing  his  mistress  read  the 
5ible.    Yielding  to  importunity,  his  mistress  began  to  in- 
struct him,  but  so  rapid  was  his  progress  that  such  instruc- 
ion  was  soon  discontinued.    But,  alas,  discontinuance  was 
do  late.     He  had  gotten  a  start.     In  his  early  years,  the 
Jible,  and  a  copy  of  the  "Columbian  Orator"  were  his 
hief  books  of  study.     For  a  good  while  had  Douglass  been 
leditating   making   his   escape   from   bondage.      Having 
rmed  himself  with  a  "pass"  belonging  to  some  one  else, 
a  September  3,  1838,  leaving  Washington  he  took  a  train 
)  New  York,  and  managed  to  get  through  without  any 
mible.     Upon  arriving  there,  he  soon  set  out  for  New 
Bedford,  Mass.    Up  to  this  time,  he  was  known  as  "Fred- 
rick Lloyd,"  his  real  name,  but  in  order  not  to  be  detected, 
lught,  and  returned  to  slavery,  he  changed  his  name  to 
Frederick  Douglass."     Here  he  worked,  at  first,  around 
le  wharves  as  a  common  laborer.    He  became  a  factor  in 
le  local  colored  church,  and  was  soon  licensed  as  a  local 
readier  in  the  African  Church.     It  was  in  New  Bedford 


42  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

that  he  married  his  first  wife. 

In  1841,  at  an  Anti-Slavery  Convention  held  in  Nan- 
tucket, which  he  attended,  so  great  and  prevailing  was  the 
impression  of  his  eloquence,  that  he  was  appointed  the 
Agent  of  the  Society  for  Massachusetts.  During  the  next 
few  years,  his  work,  in  that  direction,  was  with  telling 
effect.  Everywhere  enthusiasm  was  intensified  and  the 
cause  greatly  advanced.  In  1845,  Frederick  Douglass  was 
invited,  by  distinguished  Englishmen,  to  visit  that  country, 
and  deliver  addresses  in  behalf  of  the  Anti-Slavery  cause. 
He  readily  accepted  the  invitation,  and  spent  two  years 
there  lecturing  on  behalf  of  his  enslaved  brethren  in 
iimerica.  He  swept  everything  before  him.  Ovation  after 
ovation  was  his. 

Having  run  away  from  slavery,  in  the  eyes  of  the  law  of 
this  country  he  was  still  a  slave.  So  Englishmen  raised  a 
purse  of  $750  for  the  purchase  of  his  freedom,  and  $2,500 
with  which  to  set  him  up  in  the  newspaper  business.  Thus, 
on  his  return  to  America,  he  changed  his  residence  from 
New  Bedford  to  Eochester,  N.  Y.,  and  in  the  latter  place 
commenced  the  publication  of  his  weekly  paper,  "Frederick 
Douglass  Paper/'  afterwards  changed  to  the  "North  Star." 
Thus,  he  continued  in  the  Anti- Slavery  cause,  with  botl 
voice  and  paper.  He  thrilled  the  multitudes  by  his  elo 
quence,  and  edified  them  through  the  columns  of  the 
"North  Star."  The  good  work  continued  until  emancipa- 
tion came. 

The  grand  old  man  who  had  battled  so  nobly  for  the 
cause  of  freedom,  with  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  changed 
his  residence  from  Eochester  to  Washington.  For  the  en- 
suing quarter  of  a  century  he  was  the  great  figure  in  the  )  i  i'< 
of  the  colored  community  of  the  city  of  Washington.  Dur- 
ing this  period,  while  filling  public  office,  he  was  in  con- 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  43 

stant  demand,  all  over  the  country,  as  a  public  lecturer. 
Jin  1871,  he  was  appointed  assistant  secretary  of  the  San 
1  Domingo    Commission.      In    1872,    President    Grant   ap- 
9!  pointed  him  a  member  of  the  territorial  council  of  the  Dis- 
1  fcrict  of  Columba.     During  the  campaign,  preceding  the 
i' second  election  of  General  Grant,  as  President,  Frederick 
Douglass  was  a  Presidential  Elector,  at  large,  for  the  State 
of  New  York.    He  was  designated  to  carry  the  vote  of  New 
York  State  to  Washington.    In  1876,  President  Hayes  ap- 
pointed him  United  States  Marshal  for  the  District  of 
Columbia.    From  1881  to  1886,  he  was  Eecorder  of  Deeds 
of  the  District.     In  1889,  President  Harrison  appointed 
him  United  States  Minister  to  the  Republic  of  Haiti.    He 
1  resigned  that  office  in  1891.     His  death  occurred  on  the 
evening  of  February  20th,  1895,  at  his  home  in  Anacostia. 
^  His  funeral  was  a  most  imposing  event,  and  took  place 
3  from  Metropolitan  A.  M.  E.  Church  on  the  25th  of  Feb- 
ruary. 

In  connection  with  his  death,  an  incident  worthy  of 
note  was  the  adjournment  of  the  North   Carolina   State 
^Legislature  out  of  respect  to  his  demise,  when  the  news  of 
the  same  reached  that  body.    At  that  time,  the  Republicans 
were  in  control  in  that  state.    But  a  few  days  before,  the 
tsame  body  had  refused  to 'adjourn  out  of  respect  to  the 
birthday  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee.     The  matter  of  ad- 
journment, with  respect  to  the  death  of  Frederick  Doug- 
'  lass,  was  an  occasion  for  debate,  and  was  carried  by  a  strict 
party  vote. 

His  Last  Address  to  a  Baltimore  Audience. 

The  Sixth  Annual  Commencement  of  the  Colored  High 

1  School,  of  Baltimore,  took  place  in  the  Academy  of  Music, 

on  Friday  evening,  June  22,   1894.     There  were   eleven 


44  MEN    OF    MAKYLAND. 

members  of  the  graduating  class,  and  the  Honorable  Ferdi- 
nand C.  Latrobe,  Mayor  of  Baltimore,  delivered  the  di- 
plomas. Mr.  Douglass  was  the  orator  of  the  evening.  This 
was  his  last  public  address  in  the  city  of  his  early  child- 
hood. Among  other  things,  on  that  memorable  occasion, 
he  said  in  part : 

"The  Colored  People  of  this  country  have,  I  think,  made 
a  great  mistake  of  late  in  saying  so  much  of  race  and  color 
as  a  basis  of  their  claims  to  justice,  and  as  the  chief  motive 
of  their  efforts  and  action.  I  have  always  attached  more 
importance  to  manhood  than  to  mere  identity  with  any 
variety  of  the  human  family.  Since  emancipation  we  hear 
much  from  our  modern  colored  leaders  about  race  pride, 
race  love,  and  race  effort,  race  superiority,  race  men  and 
the  like.  One  is  praised  for  being  a  race  man,  and  another 
is  condemned  for  not  being  a  race  man.  The  object  is 
good,  but  the  method  is  bad.  It  is  an  effort  to  cast  out 
Satan  by  Beelzebub.  The  evils  that  are  now  crushing  us  to 
earth  have  their  root  and  sap  in  this  narrow  spirit  of  race 
and  color,  and  we  have  no  more  right  to  foster  it  than 
men  of  any  other  race.  I  recognize  and  adopt  no  such 
narrow  basis  for  my  thoughts,  feelings,  or  my  motives  of 
action.  It  was  not  the  race  or  the  color  of  the  Negro  that 
won  for  him  the  battle  of  liberty.  That  great  battle  was 
won,  not  because  the  victim  of  slavery  was  a  Negro,  but 
because  the  Negro  is,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  a  man — a 
brother  to  all  other  men,  a  child  of  the  common  Father  of 
mankind,  and,  therefore,  to  be  recognized  as  a  subject  of 
government,  and  entitled  to  justice,  liberty  and  equality 
before  the  law,  to  education  and  to  an  equal  chance  with  all 
other  men  in  the  race  of  life  and  in  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness. 

"Hence,  at  the  risk  of  being  deficient  in  the  quality  of 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  45 

love  and  loyalty  to  race  and  color,  I  have  in  my  advocacy  of 
our  case,  had  more  to  say  of  manhood,  and  what  is  compre- 
hended in  manhood,  than  of  the  accident  of  race  and  color. 

"We  should  never  forget  that  the  ablest  and  most  elo- 
quent voices  ever  raised  in  behalf  of  the  black  man's  cause 
were  the  voices  of  white  men.  Not  for  race,  not  for  color, 
but  for  man  and  for  manhood  they  labored,  fought,  and 
died.  Away,  then,  with  the  nonsense  that  a  man  must  be 
black  to  be  true  to  the  rights  of  black  men. 

"A  little  learning,  indeed,  may  be  a  dangerous  thing  but 
the  want  of  learning  is  a  calamity  to  any  people,  and  to  no 
people  more  than  to  the  Colored  People  of  this  country. 
Ignorance  for  us  means  poverty,  and  poverty  means  degra- 
dation, and  degradation  brings  contempt  and  persecution. 
There  is  no  time  in  our  history  that  I  would  prefer  to  the 
present.  The  existence  of  this  High  School  in  the  city  of 
Baltimore  is  a  triumphant  rebuke  to  any  cry  of  despair. 
It  is  a  type  of  institution  in  nearly  all  of  the  Southern 
States,  and  which  are  multiplying  all  over  the  country. 
But,  it  is  said  that  we  are  now  being  greatly  persecuted. 
I  admit  it.  Attempts  are  being  made  to  set  aside  the 
amendments  of  the  Constitution,  to  wrest  from  us  the  elec- 
tive franchise,  to  exclude  us  from  respectable  railroad  cars, 
to  draw  the  color  line  against  us  in  religious  organizations, 
and  to  make  us  a  proscribed  class.  The  resistance  we  now 
meet  is  the  proof  of  our  progress. 

"The  resistance  is  not  to  the  colored  man  as  a  slave,  a 
servant  or  menial.  It  is  aimed  at  the  Negro  as  a  man,  a 
gentleman  and  a  scholar.  The  Negro  in  ignorance  and  in 
rags,  meets  no  resistance.  He  is  rather  liked.  He  is 
thought  to  be  in  his  place.  It  is  only  when  he  acquires 
education,  property  and  influence,  only  when  he  attempts  to 
rise  and  be  a  man  among  men  that  he  invites  repression. 


4G  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

Even  ill  the  laws  of  the  South,  excluding  him  from  railroad 
cars  and  other  places,  care  is  taken  to  allow  him  to  ride  as 
a  servant,  a  valet  or  porter. 

"It  is  not  the  Negro  but'  the  quality  in  which  he  conies 
which  makes  him  an  offense  or  otherwise.  In  one  quality 
he  is  smiled  upon  as  a  very  serviceable  animal.  In  the 
other  he  is  scorned  as  an  upstart,  entirely  out  of  his  place, 
and  is  made  to  take  a  back  seat.  I  am  not  much  disturbed 
by  this,  for  the  same  resistance  in  kind,  though  not  in  de- 
gree, is  met  by  white  men  who  rise  from  lowly  conditions. 
The  successful  and  opulent  esteem  them  as  upstarts.  A 
lady,  elegant  and  opulent,  as  Mrs.  Potter  Palmer,  had  to 
hear  herself  talked  about  as  'shoddy/  'an  upstart,'  the 
wife  of  a  'tavern  keeper,1  and  the  like,  during  the  Colum- 
bian Exposition.  But  the  upstart  of  to-day  is  the  elite  of 
to-morrow." 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  47 


WILLIAM  DOUGLASS. 

"William  Douglass  was  born  in  Baltimore  September  6, 
1805,  on  Montgomery  street  near  Leadenhall  street.  In  the 
olden  days,  the  father  of  Mr.  Douglass  was  a  well-known 
blacksmith  who  conducted  business  on  Light  street.  Of 
the  very  early  life  of  the  Eev.  Mr.  Douglass  we  know  little. 
However,  he  attended  "Daniel  Coker's  School,"  and  was 
one  of  the  boys  who  achieved  marked  distinction.  Mr. 
Douglass  was  well  instructed  in  the  higher  branches,  and 
the  languages,  by  Daniel  Coker.  Mr.  Dougless  married  a 
Miss  Elizabeth  Grice,  daughter  of  the  celebrated  colored 
abolitionist  Hezekiah  Grice.  It  was  while  as  an  itinerant 
minister  among  the  Methodists,  in  Cecil  county,  that  he 
found  his  way  into  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and 
was  the  first  colored  man  ever  ordained  to  the  ministry  of 
the  Episcopal  Church,  not  only  in  the  State  of  Maryland, 
but  in  the  entire  South.  This. ordination  took  place  on  the 
Eastern  Shore,  in  the  State  of  Maryland.  It  occurred  on 
Sunday,  June  22nd,  1834.  The  entry,  with  respect  to  the 
ordination,  in  Bishop  Stone's  journal,  reads  as  follows: 

"On  Sunday  22,  I  preached  in  St.  Stephen's  parish, 
Cecil  County  (Sassafras  Neck),  and  admitted  to  the  order 
of  Deacons  William  Douglass  (a  colored  man),  and  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  same  day  I  confirmed  three  persons. 
Many  persons  who  were  present  never  before  witnessed  an 
ordination,  and  I  am  sure  that  the  impression  made  upon 
their  minds  was  favorable  to  the  Church  and  her  institu- 


48  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

tions.  In  the  afternoon,  by  previous  arrangement,  the 
Church  was  given  up  to  the  Colored  People,  and  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Douglass  preached  to  them  an  interesting  sermon." 

It  appears  that  the  year  before,  1833,  Mr.  Douglass 
visited  Philadelphia,  attending  the  Anti- Slavery  Conven- 
tion, and  possibly  the  occasion  of  this  visit  is  responsible 
for  his  introduction  to  the  people  of  St.  Thomas  Church. 

Very  soon  after  Mr.  Douglass'  ordination,  he  accepted  a 
call  to  St.  Thomas  African  Church,  Philadelphia,  which 
was  established  in  1793,  and  which  is  said  to  be  the  oldest 
regularly  incorporated  colored  congregation  of  any  denomi- 
nation in  the  United  States.  This  parish,  St.  Thomas, 
eventuated  from  the  old  "Free  African  Society"  established 
in  1787.  The  occasion  of  the  formation  of  the  "Free  Afri- 
can Society,"  was  the  ejectment  of  the  band  of  colored 
Methodists  from  St.  George's  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Philadelphia,  where  they  were  wont  to  worship.  Richard 
Allen  and  Absalom  Jones  were  the  two  leaders  in  this  So- 
ciety. First,  the  society  determined  to  build  an  "African 
Church.''  Later,  they  held  a  meeting  to  determine  with 
which  of  the  white  religious  bodies  their  church  should  be 
connected.  Although  most  of  the  members,  up  to  this  time, 
were  Methodists,  they  decided,  almost  unanimously,  that 
the  church  and  congregation  should  be  connected  with  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  of  the  Diocese  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Only  two  members  seemed  to  have  voted  against 
this  proposal — and  they  the  two  leaders — Absalom  Jones 
and  Richard  Allen.  Notwithstanding,  the  society  requested 
Richard  Allen  that  he  would  be  their  "minister,"  to  be 
recommended  to  Bishop  White,  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
for  a  regular  license.  Allen  maintained  that  he  was  a 
Methodist  and  could  not  be  anything  else  save  a  Methodist ;~ 
he,  therefore,  declined.    Absalom  Jones  was  then  asked  to 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  49 

accept  the  same  position,  and,  after  due  deliberation,  he 
accepted.  He  was  licensed  as  a  Lay  Eeader  by  Bishop 
White,  and,  in  1795,  he  was  ordained  a  deacon.  Later,  he 
was  advanced  to  the  Priesthood.  Jones  departed  this  life 
in  1818.  From  that  time  to  the  coming  of  the  Eev.  Mr. 
Douglass,  in  1834,  the  church  had  a  supply  of  various  white 
ministers;  but  Mr.  Douglass  was  the  immediate  successor 
of  Absalom  Jones  as  rector  of  the  Church. 

The  14th  day  of  February,  1836,  was  a  great  day  for  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Douglass;  for  on  that  particular  day,  in  St. 
Thomas  Church,  he  was  raised  to  the  holy  order  of  Priest- 
hood, in  the  Church  of  God.  Bishop  H.  U.  Onderdonk, 
who  was  assistant  to  Bishop  White,  officiated  upon  that 
occasion,  and  the  following  entry  from  his  journal  will 
show  his  impression  of  this  black  man,  and  his  fitness  for 
such  an  exalted  position.    Bishop  Onderdonk  says : 

"On  Sunday,  February  14th,  in  St.  Thomas  (African) 
Church,  Philadelphia,  I  admitted  the  Rev.  William  Doug- 
lass, deacon,  to  the  holy  order  of  Priests.  Mr.  Douglass  is 
a  man  of  Colour;  and  I  take  the  opportunity  of  recording 
my  very  favorable  estimate  of  his  highly  respectable  intel- 
lect, and  most  aimable  qualities,  which  entirely  relieved  my 
mind,  in  his  case,  from  the  anxieties  I  had  long  felt  in 
reference  to  this  department  of  Episcopal  duty.  He  minis- 
ters to  a  congregation  at  unity  in  itself,  much  attached  to 
him,  and  improving,  under  his  pastoral  care,  in  the  princi- 
ples and  duties  of  our  common  Christianity." 

Mr.  Douglass  was  a  power  in  Philadelphia  among  the 
race  in  his  day.  In  addition  to  his  parochial,  and  other 
duties,  he  became  an  author,  even  in  that  early  day.  In 
1853,  he  issued  a  volume  of  sermons,  a  book  of  about  250 
pages,  containing  twelve  sermons.  Later,  he  published  a 
second  volume,  being  the  "Annals  of  St.  Thomas  Church," 


50  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

of  which  he  was  rector.  A  copy  of  both  volumes  the  present 
author  possesses.  In  1862,  at  the  Diocesan  Convention, 
Bishop  Alonzo  Potter,  in  reporting  the  death  of  Mr.  Doug- 
lass, said: 

"It  hath  pleased  the  Lord  to  call  away  from  the  Church 
Militant  the  Eev.  William  Douglass,  rector  of  St.  Thomas 
African  Church,  in  this  city,  where  he  has  ministered  for 
the  last  twenty-seven  years — a  man  of  great  modesty,  of 
ripe  scholarship,  and  of  much  more  than  ordinary  talents 
and  prudence.  He  is  as  far  as  I  am  informed,  the  only 
clergyman  of  unmixed  African  descent,  who,  in  this  coun- 
try, has  published  works  of  considerable  magnitude.  In 
two  volumes,  one  of  sermons,  and  one  a  history  of  St. 
Thomas'  Church,  has  vindicated  his  right  to  appear  among 
our  respected  divines.  As  a  reader  of  the  Liturgy  he  was 
unsurpassed."  His  death  occurred  in  Philadelphia  on  May 
22,  1862. 

An  Extract  from  a  Sermon  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Douglass. 

(The  extract  here  given,  is  from  a  sermon  of  the  Eev. 
William  Douglass,  preached  in  St.  Thomas  Church,  Phila- 
delphia, November  15,  1840,  in  memory  of  the  Eev.  Peter 
Williams,  late  founder  and  rector  of  St.  Philip's  Church, 
New  York.  His  text  was :  "For  David  after  he  had  served 
his  own  generation  by  the  will  of  God,  fell  on  sleep" — Acts 
xiii. — 36.) 

"Such  was  the  character  and  end  of  our  late  friend 
and  brother,  the  Eev.  Peter  Williams ;  called  away  suddenly 
to  us,  but  not  to  him,  from  the  field  of  toil  and  labor,  to 
rest  in  Abraham's  bosom.  Our  departed  friend  was  brought 
under  the  influence  of  saving  grace  in  the  most  favorable 
season  of  life.  He  gave  heed  to  the  admonition :  cEemem- 
ber  now  thy  Creator  in  the  days  of  thy  youth3  while  the  evil 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  01 

days  come  not,  nor  the  years  draw  nigh,  when  thou  shalt 
say,  I  have  no  pleasure  in  them/  Blessed  as  he  had  been 
with  the  advantage  of  pious  parents,  he  very  probably 
traced  his  early  religious  impressions  to  their  Godly  ad- 
monitions and  counsels.  The  time  however  came  that  must 
come  to  all,  when  the  sacred  tie  that  bound  the  hearts  of 
parents  and  child  together,  had  to  be  severed  by  death.  He 
was  left  behind  to  mourn  the  loss  of  them  for  awhile;  but 
with  what  raptures  must  they  have  hailed  each  other  as 
they  met  again  on  the  borders  of  the  heavenly  world,  to 
part  no  more  forever. 

"At  the  age  of  seventeen  or  eighteen  years,  he  became  a 
communicant  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  of  which 
Dr.  Lisle  was  pastor.  Soon  after,  he  assisted  an  aged 
gentelman,  whose  name  was  Thomas  McKoon,  in  giving 
catechetical  instruction  to  the  children  assembled  in  a  pri- 
vate room  rented  for  that  purpose.  In  the  same  place  a 
number  of  adults  regularly  met  on  Sunday  evenings  for 
religious  purposes.  The  exercises  were  generally  conducted 
by  Mr.  McKoon.  After  the  death  of  this  gentleman,  Mr. 
Williams  was  regularly  appointed  lay-reader.  He  acted  in 
that  capacity  until  the  year  1820,  at  which  time  he  was 
ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  Hobart,  in  the  church  in  which 
he  dispensed  the  word  of  life  to  the  close  of  his  earthly 
pilgrimage.  He  was  ordained  priest  by  the  same  Bishop  in 
the  year  1826.  He  manifested  a  deep  concern  for  the  im- 
provement not  only  of  the  people  of  his  charge,  but  for  his 
brethren  generally.  Hence,  he  was  found  contributing  his 
influence  and  pecuniary  means  towards  supporting  the 
various  organized  instrumentalities  that  had  a  tendency  to 
elevate  and  improve  the  condition  and  character  of  his  op- 
pressed people.  I  doubt  very  much  whether  there  exists  in 
the  city  of  New  York  one  single  society  having  an  imme- 


52  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 


0 


diate  bearing  on  the  general  interests  of  our  people,  but 
what  met  with  his  countenance  and  support.  He  was  not 
conspicuous  in  these  matters.  For  no  man,  perhaps,  was 
less  given  to  display  or  aimed  less  at  popular  applause  than 
he.  If  he  could  hide  himself  from  personal  gaze,  he  seemed 
to  be  best  pleased.  His  whole  deportment  seemed  to  say : 
cLet  me  be  little  and  unknown, 
Lov'd   and   priz'd  by   God   alone.' 

"A  retiring  modesty  and  unaffected  diffidence  formed  a 
very  prominent  feature  in  his  character.  His  hopes  for  an 
improvement  in  the  character  of  our  people  were  in  the 
young  and  rising  generation,  in  whom  he  manifested  a 
lively  interest.  Did  he  see  a  promising  youth,  who  lacked 
nothing  but  the  necessary  advantages  to  enable  him  to  re- 
flect credit  on  himself  and  people,  in  a  moral  and  intel- 
lectual point  of  view;  he  was  the  man  who  would  spare  no 
pains  to  get  such  a  one  in  a  situation  favorable  to  the  de- 
velopment of  his  powers.  He  took  delight  in  seeking  out 
such  cases.  There  is  now  a  high  school  in  the  city  of  New 
York  that  owes  its  establishment  chiefly  to  his  untiring 
efforts. 

"He  was  a  universal  friend.  His  countenance,  which  was 
expressive  of  kind  and  benevolent  feelings,  added  to  that 
ease  and  gentleness  which  were  ever  seen  in  his  manners, 
told  every  one  that  approached  him,  that  he  was  in  the 
presence  of  a  friend.  He  loved  every  one,  hence  he  was 
universally  beloved  in  return.  To  use  the  language  of  one 
with  whom  he  had  long  been  most  intimate :  "He  was  a 
friend  to  everybody — he  was  always  in  trouble  about  other 
people's  troubles.  He  was  a  kind  of  depository  for  every 
one  to  lodge  his  cares  and  anxieties.  People  of  different 
denominations,  whenever  they  got  into  difficulty,  would  in- 
variably  go  to  him;  and  he,  in  the  kindness  of  his  heart, 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  53 


would  as  often  use  his  endeavors  to  have  their  affairs  satis- 
factorily settled. 

"As  regards  his  fidelity  and  zeal  in  the  discharge  of  his 
ministerial  duties,  I  need  only  quote  the  words  of  his 
Diocesan,  delivered  on  the  day  of  his  interment : 

"  fIt  was  my  privilege/  says  the  venerable  Prelate,  'to  be 
often  the  depository  of  the  cares  and  anxieties,  the  longing 
desires  and  earnest  endeavors,  the  watchful  solicitudes,  the 
cheering  hopes,  the  affectionate  fears,  and  practical  de- 
pendence upon  God's  grace,  with  which  he  gave  himself, 
instant  in  season  and  out  of  season  to  his  pastoral  charge. 
I  have  often  said,  and  would  now  say,  in  conscious  sin- 
cerity and  integrity  of  heart,  that  in  all  the  wide  range  of 
my  observation,  I  never  knew  a  pastor  whose  whole  soul 
seemed  more  engaged  in  the  great  work  to  which  he  had 
been  set  apart.  I  have  seen  this  in  the  happy  results  of  his 
ministry,  and  felt  it  in  the  many  occasions  on  which  he 
has  taken  counsel  with  me  in  matters  pertaining  to  his  high 
and  holy  trust.' 

"During  the  last  two  or  three  years  of  our  departed 
friend's  life,  it  was  evident  to  his  friends  that  his  health 
was  declining.  I  have  been  informed  that  a  little  while  pre- 
vious to  his  death,  he  had  one  or  two  attacks  of  apoplexy; 
and  that  he  was  impressed  with  the  idea  that  he  would  be 
called  away  in  one  of  these  attacks.  The  solemn  messenger 
it  is  true,  did  not  come  in  this  form,  but  his  purpose  was 
executed  with  less  despatch.  He  was  aroused  from  his  bed 
at  the  hour  of  11  o'clock  Saturday  night,  17th  ult.,  by  an 
alarm  of  fire.  He  looked  out  at  his  window,  and  imme- 
diately complained  of  a  difficulty  in  breathing;  and  at  3 
o'clock  Sunday  morning,  he  leaned  his  head  on  his  Savior's 
bosom,  and  breathed  his  life  out  sweetly  there.  Peace  to 
his  mortal  remains,  until  reanimated  by  the  voice  of  the 
Archangel  and  the  trump  of  God." 


54  MEN  OF  MARYLAND. 


HENRY  HIGHLAND  GARNET. 

On  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland,  in  the  County  of 
Kent,  on  December  23,  1815,  Henry  Highland  Garnet  was 
born.  He  was  born  in  slavery,  as  was  his  father  before  him. 
His  father  was  a  slave  on  the  plantation  belonging  to  Col- 
onel William  Spencer.  But,  the  father  of  George  Garnet, 
grandfather  of  Henry,  was  a  native  African,  Mandingo 
chieftain,  who  also  was  one  of  the  victims  of  the  African 
Slave  trade.  He  was  brought  to  America  and  sold  into 
slavery. 

When  Henry  Garnet  was  about  nine  years  of  age,  his 
father,  with  his  mother,  made  their  escape  from  slavery. 
George  Garnet  got  permission  of  his  master  to  attend  the 
funeral  of  a  friend,  a  slave,  who  had  died;  but,  instead  of 
attending  the  funeral  he  procured  a  covered  wagon,  and  in 
it  placed  young  Garnet,  his  sister  and  their  mother,  and, 
under  cover  of  night,  drove  to  Wilmington,  Delaware. 
There  the  family  was  taken  in  charge  by  Thomas  Garret, 
the  veteran  abolitionist.  From  there  they  were  sent  on  to 
New  York.  In  New  York  apartments  were  secured  on 
Leonard  street,  next  door  to  Boston  Crummell,  father  of 
the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Crummell.  Henry  Garnet  and  Alexander 
Crummell  grew  up  together  as  boys,  were  schoolmates  and 
fast  friends  through  life  until  separated  by  death.  They 
attended  together  the  old  African  Free  School  in  Mulberry 
street.  A  number  of  the  colored  boys  attending  this  school 
in   after  life   became   celebrated   characters.     Among  the 


MEN    OF    MAKYLAND.  55 

number  were:  Patrick  and  Charles  L.  Eeason,  Ira  Al- 
clridge,  George  T.  Downing,  Isaiah  G.  Degrasse,  Dr.  Mc- 
Cune  Smith  and  Samuel  Einggold  Ward.  Later,  about 
1831,  through  the  efforts  of  the  late  Eev.  Peter  Williams, 
Boston  Crummell,  and  others,  a  colored  high  school  was 
inaugurated;  and  these  boys  also  attended  this  institution. 
When  about  15  years  of  age,  Henry  Garnet,  through  an  acci- 
dent, contracted  a  white  swelling,  which  rendered  him  a 
cripple  for  life.  In  view  of  this  calamity,  the  future 
scholarship  which  he  achieved,  and  the  marked  distinction 
which  he  won,  are  perfectly  marvelous.  Very  early  in  life 
he  became  a  pupil  of  the  Sunday  School  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church,  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  Eev. 
Theodore  S.  Wright.  In  1835,  Garnet,  with  Crummell  and 
other  boys,  attended  a  boarding  school  in  Canaan,  New 
Hampshire.  There  they  remained  for  awhile  until  finally 
"race  prejudice"  broke  up  the  school.  Yet,  a  cripple,  weak, 
sickly  and  feeble,  undaunted,  Garnet  persevered  in  obtain- 
ing his  education.  From  here  he  went  to  the  Oneida  In- 
stitute, Whitesboro,  N".  Y.  He  graduated  from  this  insti- 
tution in  1839.  He  then  settled  at  Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  taught 
the  colored  school  there;  at  the  same  time  he  studied  the- 
ology under  Eev.  Dr.  Beman,  and  acted  as  secretary  of  the 
Colored  Presbyterian  Church.  In  1842  he  was  licensed 
and  ordained  to  the  Presbyterian  ministry.  He  remained 
there  for  a  period  of  ten  years.  During  this  time  he  pub- 
lished a  newspaper  called  the  "Clarion."  Very  soon,  he 
had  enlisted  in  the  great  abolition  movement,  and,  in 
which  cause  he  became  one  of  its  most  celebrated  speakers. 
The  late  Eev.  Dr.  Crummell,  in  his  eulogium  of  Dr.  Garnet, 
relates  an  incident  which  will  give  some  idea  of  the  "maiden 
speech"  of  Dr.  Garnet,  in  connection  with  the  Anti- Slavery 
campaign. 


56  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

Says  Dr.  Crummell:  "I  was  the  guest  last  November 
of  a  distinguished  and  learned  clergyman  of  my  own 
church  in  New  Jersey."  He  told  me  the  following  facts : 
"I  was  born/'  he  said,  "in  the  South,  the  son  of  a  slave- 
owner. Passing  through  New  York,  in  May  1841,  I  read 
a  notice  that  a  black  man  would  speak  at  the  anniversary 
of  the  American  Anti- Slavery  Society.  The  idea  of  a 
Negro  making  a  speech  was  the  most  ludicrous  thing 
imaginable,  but  for  the  sport  of  the  thing,  I  said,  I  will  go 
and  hear  this  fellow.  I  had  never  seen  a  Negro  who  could 
read.  I  had  not  the  most  distant  idea  that  a  black  man 
could  be  taught  to  think,  to  be  intelligent,  to  be  cultivated. 
I  thought  I  should  have  fine  fun  in  hearing  something 
burlesque  and  clownish."  "I  went,"  he  said,  "to  the  Broad- 
way Tabernacle,  took  my  seat  and  waited  for  the  speaker. 
Two  or  three  white  men  spoke,  and  then  the  chairman  in- 
troduced a  tall,  slender,  black  young  man,  leaning  on  a 
crutch  whom  he  announced  by  the  name  of  Garnet.  Dr. 
Crummell,  as  soon  as  he  opened  his  mouth  and  began  his 
speech  I  was  filled  with  amazement.  Never  in  my  life, 
before  or  since,  have  I  heard  such  pure  and  beautiful  Eng- 
lish, such  finely  turned  sentences,  such  clear  and  polished 
rhetoric,  such  lucid,  crystal  thought.  His  gesticulation, 
too,  was  as  refined  and  elegant  as  his  speech  was  chaste 
and  manly."  "Never  from  that  day,"  he  said,  "have  I 
ever  had  any  doubts  of  the  full  capacity  of  the  Negro." 

After  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  Dr.  Garnet  settled  down 
to  the  pastorate.  He  was,  for  awhile,  in  Washington,  also 
pastor  of  Shiloh  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York.  He  was 
appointed  United  States  Minister  to  Liberia,  West  Africa, 
and  died  in  that  country  shortly  after  his  arrival  there. 
Following  his  death,  the  following  minute  was  adopted  by 
the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  of  which  he  was  an  honored 
arid  distinguished  member : 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  57 


"At  the  stated  meeting  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York, 
April  10,  1882,  the  following  resolution  was  adopted: 
'That  the  Presbytery  has  heard  with  profound  regret  of  the 
death  of  the  Eev.  Henry  Highland  Garnet,  D.  D.,  a  member 
of  this  body,  the  late  pastor  of  the  Shiloh  Presbyterian 
Church  of  this  city  and  Minister  of  the  United  States  to 
the  Eepublic  of  Liberia.  His  long  service  in  the  church, 
his  ability  and  fidelity  as  a  preacher  and  pastor,  the  dig- 
nity, purity,  and  usefulness  of  his  life,  and  the  courage 
with  which  he  maintained  the  honor  of  his  high  calling  in 
the  church  and  the  community,  commanded  our  esteem  and 
respect,  and  render  his  departure  a  real  loss  to  this  Pres- 
bytery. That  his  death  as  he  was  just  entering  upon  his 
duties  as  Minister  of  Liberia,  where  he  had  a  wide  field 
for  the  exercise  of  his  talents,  and  where  he  promised  to  be 
greatly  useful,  is  to  be  deplored  as  a  calamity  to  that 
republic  and  to  the  colored  race/  " 

That  a  copy  of  this  minute  be  sent  to  the  family  of  Dr. 
Garnet  and  be  published." 

There  is  hardly  anything  more  beautiful,  and  really 
touching,  than  the  mangnificent  eulogium  of  Dr.  Garnet, 
by  the  late  Eev.  Dr.  Crummell,  before  the  Bethel  Literary, 
of  Washington,  D.  C,  on  the  4th  day  of  May,  1882,  and 
from  which  we  have  already  quoted.  In  closing  this  sketch, 
we  shall  again  borrow  the  words  of  his  life-long  friend. 
Says  Dr.  Crummell: 

"I  have  spoken  of  the  genius,  the  eloquence,  and  the 
labors  of  Henry  Highland  Garnet.  Spare  me  a  few  mo- 
ments longer,  for  a  few  words  concerning  the  man  him- 
self, for  a  man,  i.  e.,  the  personal  quality  of  any  human 
being,  is  always  of  more  value  than  any  of  his  parts. 

"There  are  two  words,  which  I  think  more  than  any 
other,  will  serve  to  delineate  his  character — Largeness  and 


58  MEN    OE   MARYLAND. 

Sweetness.  I  can  well  believe  the  tradition  in  his  family 
that  his  ancestors  were  kings  in  Africa.  Things,  ideas  of 
magnitude,  grand  prospects,  seemed  ever,  even  in  boy- 
hood to  occupy  his  mind.  There  was  nothing  of  stint  or 
contractedness  about  him.  He  was  generous,  beneficent, 
unselfish,  hospitable. 

"  c Large  was  his  bounty,  and  his  soul  sincere.' 
"Every  stranger,  minister,  foreigner,  fugitive,  refugee, 
was  welcome  to  his  board,  and  could  command  his  purse. 
The  great  fault  of  his  character  was  in  this  direction.  Not 
merely  unselfish,  he  lacked  somewhat  in  the  quality  of  self- 
love.  There  was  a  princeliness  in  his  largeness  which  not 
seldom  landed  him  into  poverty.  For,  like  Daniel  Webster, 
and  I  am  speaking  of  no  faultless  man,  he  never  seemed  to 
think  there  wrere  limitations  to  the  boundliness  of  his  bene- 
ficence and  the  capacity  of  his  pocket.  If  in  the  future  as 
in  the  past,  men  continue  to  prize  noble  gifts  used  for  the 
highest  purposes ;  to  honor  our  devoted  service  freely  given 
for  the  maintenance  of  truth  and  justice;  to  applaud  lofty 
speech  used  for  the  upbuilding  of  humanity  and  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  race;  to  revere  pure  and  lofty  character, 
a  life-time  illustration  of  the  finest  qualities  of  our  kind, 
"  'Then  o'er  his  mound  a  sanctity  shall  brood, 
Till  the  stars  sicken  at  the  day  of  doom.7 ' 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  59 


HEZEKIAH  GRICE  AND  OTHERS. 

The  Convention  Movement. 

At  present,  National  race  conventions,  of  various  kinds, 
are  quite  familiar  to  all.  The  "Convention  Movement"  lias 
reference  to  the  very  beginning  of  such  assemblies  in  this 
country  among  our  people.  Of  course,  before  the  Civil 
War  such  were  necessarily  confined  to  "free  persons  of 
color."  In  the  years  following  the  War  of  1814,  the 
troubles,  disadvantages,  and  oppression  of  "free  colored 
persons"  in  the  so-called  free  states  multiplied  and  in- 
creased. The  air  was  filled  with  colonization  schemes,  and 
the  various  uprisings  among  the  blacks,  in  other  sections  of 
the  country,  contributed  towards  rendering  the  lot  of  the 
free  colored  person  far  from  being  a  happy  one.  The  idea 
of  holding  a  convention  of  free  colored  persons,  somewhere 
in  the  free  states,  was  born  in  the  mind  of  Hezehiah  Grice, 
a  free  person  of  color  of  the  city  of  Baltimore.  Early  in  the 
spring  of  1830  he  sent  out  a  number  of  circulars  to  free 
colored  men  in  the  various  free  states  to  elicit  their  views. 
A  primary  meeting  was  held,  shortly,  in  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  the  call  for  the  convention  was  formally  sent 
out,  which  convened  in  that  same  city  of  Philadelphia  on 
the  15th  of  September,  1830.  The  convention  was  held  in 
Bethel  Church,  and  Bishop  Allen  was  its  president.  The 
delegates  attending  from  the  city  of  Baltimore  were :  Heze- 
kiah  Grice,  James  Deaver,  Aaron  Wilson  and  Eobert  Cowlv. 
There    were   forty    delegates   present,    representing    seven 


60  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

states:  Connecticut,  Ehode  Island,  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Delaware,  Maryland  and  Virginia.  The  convention 
registered  its  protest  against  the  colonization  scheme  and 
appointed  committees  to  make  investigation  with  respect 
to  settlements  in  some  part  of  Canada.  These  conventions 
became  a  fixed  annual  institution,  and  were  regularly  held 
until  the  Civil  War.  The  convention  of  1831  is  memorable 
from  the  fact  that  the  "free  colored  persons"  of  that  day 
seemed  to  have  anticipated  both  Hampton  and  Booker  T. 
Washington.  In  the  former  convention  something  was  said 
of  the  need  of  a  "Manual  Training  School,"  and  adequate 
land  had  been  tendered  for  the  purpose,  near  New  Haven, 
Conn.  But  the  white  people  of  that  vicinity  vigorously 
"protested"  against  the  establishment  there  of  such  an  in- 
stitution for  colored  people. 

But,  of  Hezekiah  Grice  we  know  but  little.  He  was  a 
man  of  considerable  ability,  an  ardent  race  lover,  and  an 
aggressive  anti-slavery  man.  He  was  associated  with  Ben- 
jamin Lundy  and  William  Lloyd  Garrison  in  the  publica- 
tion in  Baltimore  of  "The  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipa- 
tion." When  the  publishers  of  that  paper  were  mobbed  and 
their  plant  destroyed,  he  fled  with  them,  but  subsequently 
he  returned.  He  organized  in  Baltimore,  in  that  early  day, 
among  the  free  colored  people,  a  "Legal  Bights  Associa- 
tion." A  few  years  after,  he  emigrated  to  Haiti,  where  he 
became  a  large  contractor.  A  daughter  of  Hezekiah  Grice, 
Miss  Elizabeth,  became  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  William  Doug- 
lass, rector  of  St.  Thomas'  Church,  Philadelphia.  Mr. 
Douglass,  himself,  was  ordained  to  the  Episcopal  ministry 
by  Bishop  Stone,  an  Eastern  Shore  man,  and  a  lineal 
descendant  of  Governor  Stone,  of  Colonial  days  in  Mary- 
land. 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  61 

Other  Prominent  Characters. 

There  are  quite  a  number  of  names  of  distinguished  col- 
ored men,  of  the  past,  concerning  whom  it  is  difficult  to 
ascertain  definite  and  reliable  data.  Jacob  C.  Greenough, 
grandfather  of  Prof.  Eichard  T.  Greenough  (the  first  col- 
ored person  to  graduate  from  Harvard  University),  was 
quite  active  in  Maryland  affairs  as  early  as  the  year  1815, 
at  which  time,  being  a  communicant  of  St.  Paul's  Parish, 
Baltimore,  and  also  a  licensed  lay-reader,  he  made  the  first 
attempt  to  raise  a  Colored  Episcopal  Church  in  Baltimore, 
by  holding  services  in  his  own  house.  He  was  one  of,  if  not 
the  leader,  in  antagonizing  the  Colonization  Movement. 
The  Rev.  William  Watkins  not  only  conducted  a  day  school, 
but  also  associated  with  Frederick  Douglass  in  his  journal- 
istic and  anti-slavery  work.  Isaiah  C.  Wears,  the  celebrated 
orator  and  debater,  of  Philadelphia,  was  also  a  Marylandei* 
by  birth.  Samuel  W.  Chase  and  George  Hackett  were 
giant  leaders  of  the  race  in  their  day.  Chase  was  known 
far  and  near  for  his  moving  and  captivating  eloquence. 
During  the  period  immediately  following  the  Civil  War, 
Isaac  and  George  Myers  were  the  distinguished  and  effec- 
tive leaders  of  racial  interests.  Isaac  Myers  was  also  most 
active  in  Bethel  Sunday  School  and  Church. 

About  this  same  time,  there  arose  to  prominence  and 
leadership,  a  man,  although  not  a  native,  whose  good  work 
earned  for  him  a  worthy  place  among  the  "Men  of  Mary- 
land." From  the  humble  occupation  of  a  "teamster"  he 
gradually  arose  to  real,  potential,  and  effective  leadership 
of  his  race.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was  a  United  States 
Inspector  of  Customs.  Many  years  later,  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Baltimore  City  Council.  He  exercised  a 
wonderful  influence  over  the  leaders  of  both  political  par- 
ties.    Few  men  enjoyed  such  extensive  personal  acquaint- 


G2  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

ance  with  the  big  men  of  the  country,  both  white  and  col- 
ored. He  adapted  himself  to  conditions  such  as  they  were. 
He  could  play  "ring"  politics,  or  otherwise.  Our  present 
prosperity  in  schools  and  many  other  civic  affairs,  are  due, 
in  a  large  measure,  to  his  efficient  leadership.  Naturally, 
he  had  political  enemies.  Some  very  good  people  charac- 
terized him  as  a  "corrupt  boss."  But,  the  author  of  this 
volume  knew  him  quite  well  for  well-nigh  twenty  years, 
during  which  time  we  never  discerned  in  him  other  than  a 
straightforward,  courteous,  and  honest  man.  Our  esti- 
mate of  Hiram  Watty,  for  we  refer  to  him,  is  that  of  one 
of  the  most  genuinely  useful  and  serviceable  men  of  the 
race,  in  his  day  and  generation. 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  63 


JAMES  ANDERSON  HANDY. 

James  Anderson  Handy,  D.  D.,  Bishop  of  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  was  born  in  Baltimore,  Md., 
on  the  22nd  clay  of  December,  1826.  His  mother  died 
when  he  was  about  six  years  of  age,  leaving  five  children. 
He  was  placed  in  the  care  of  his  uncle  who  reared  him. 
When  a  boy,  about  seven  years  of  age,  he  was  baptized  by 
the  Rev.  Peter  Schureman.  About  the  same  time,  he  be- 
came a  member  of  Bethel  Sunday  School,  and  always  there- 
after considered  himself  a  member  of  the  School  unto  the 
day  of  his  death.  He  occupied  every  position  in  the  Sunday 
School,  from  scholar  to  superintendent.  In  1852  he  be- 
came a  full  member  of  the  congregation,  and  filled  every 
office  therein,  save  being  a  licensed  exhorter.  Bishop  Handy 
was  true  and  faithful  in  every  position  from  sexton  to 
Bishop.  In  due  season,  he  became  an  elder  in  the  Church, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  was  one  of  the  few  picked 
men  chosen  by  Bishop  Payne  to  accompany  him  in  the  far 
South,  to  open  up  the  work  of  that  Church. 

In  1888,  he  was  elected  financial  secretary  of  the  connec- 
tion, and  purchased  and  established  the  present  headquar- 
ters in  the  city  of  Washington.  In  1892  he  was  elected  a 
Bishop  of  his  Church.  We  was  also  the  author  of  "Scraps" 
of  Methodist  history."  He  was  a  strong  character,  and 
universally  beloved,  but  nowhere  more  than  in  Baltimore, 
his  own  native  city,  where,  full  of  years  and  full  of  honors, 
he  breathed  his  last,  October  3,  1911.  He  was  buried  from 
Bethel  Church. 


Gi  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 


FRANCES  ELLEN  WATKINS  HARPER. 

Frances  Ellen  Watkins  was  born  in  the  city  of  Balti- 
more in  the  year  1825.  Although  of  "free"  parentage, 
she  was  subjected  to  many  of  the  disadvantages  and  op- 
pressive influences  which  bond  and  free  alike  experienced 
under  slave  laws.  Mrs.  Harper,  after  she  had  grown  up, 
expressed  very  pathetically,  but  clearly,  the  loneliness  of 
her  childhood  days,  in  the  following  extract  from  her 
writings : 

"Have  I  yearned  for  a  mother's  love?  The  grave  was 
my  robber.  Before  three  years  had  scattered  their  blight 
around  my  path,  death  had  won  my  mother  from  me. 
Would  the  strong  arm  of  a  brother  have  been  welcome? 
I  was  my  mother's  only  child." 

The  earliest  portion  of  her  life  was  spent  in  the  care  of 
her  aunt,  while  she  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  attending  the 
day  school  taught  by  her  uncle,  Eev.  William  Watkins,  for 
the  benefit  of  "free"  colored  children.  But,  when  she  was 
about  thirteen  years  of  age,  she  was  taken  from  school  and 
put  to  work  to  earn  her  own  living.  She  had,  of  course, 
many  trials  and  temptations;  but,  at  the  same  time,  she 
greatly  profited  by  her  environment,  in  the  white  family 
where  she  was  employed.  Very  early,  in  her  teens,  she 
gave  unmistakable  evidence  of  poetic  and  literary  ability. 
She  was  taught  sewing,  while  she  cared  for  the  children 
of  the  household,  and,  at  the  same  time  she  satisfied  her 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  65 

ever-growing  fondness  for  books  and  good  literature.  She 
had  scarcely  reached  her  majority  'ere  she  had  written  a 
number  of  prose  and  poetic  pieces  which  were  deemed  of 
sufficient  merit  to  be  published  in  a  small  volume  under 
the  title  of  "Forest  Leaves."  Some  of  her  efforts  found 
their  way  into  the  newspapers.  Her  mind  was  of  a  strictly 
religious  caste,  and  all  the  effusions  of  her  pen  bear  a 
highly  moral  and  elevating  tone.  About  the  year  1851,  she 
left  Baltimore  to  seek  a  home  in  a  free  State;  and,  for  a 
short  while,  took  up  her  abode  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  where 
she  engaged  in  teaching.  Her  residence  in  Ohio  was  but 
for  a  short  time.  She  removed  to  Little  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  she  continued  the  work  of  teaching.  It  was 
while  teaching  in  York  that  she  became  thoroughly  drawn 
to  the  work  of  the  Anti-Slavery  cause,  and,  eventually, 
became  one  of  its  leading  public  lecturers,  and  with  devo- 
tion and  energy,  gave  herself,  wholly  to  the  cause. 

What  may  be  termed  her  "maiden  speech"  was  delivered 
in  August,  1854,  and  the  following  extract  of  that  date  is 
interesting : 

"Well,  I  am  out  lecturing.  I  have  lectured  every  night 
this  week;  besides,  addressed  a  Sunday  School,  and  I  shall 
speak,  if  nothing  prevents,  to-night.  My  lectures  have  met 
with  success.  Last  night  I  lectured  in  a  white  church  in 
Providence.  Mr.  Gardener  was  present,  and  made  the  esti- 
mate of  about  six  hundred  persons.  Never,  perhaps,  was 
a  speaker,  old  or  young,  favored  with  a  more  attentive 
audience.  .  .  .  My  voice  is  not  wanting  in  strength,  as 
I  am  aware  of,  to  reach  pretty  well  over  the  house.  The 
Church  was  the  Roger  Williams  •  the  pastor,  a  Mr.  Furnell, 
who  appeared  to  be  a  kind  and  Christian  man.  .  .  .  My 
maiden  lecture  was  Monday  night  in  New  Bedford,  on  the 
'Elevation  and  Education  of  Our  People.'  " 


66  MEN    OF   MARYLAND. 

In  1856,  Mrs.  Harper,  desiring  to  see  the  fugitives  in 
Canada,  visited  the  Upper  Province,  and,  in  a  letter  dated 
at  Niagara  Falls,  September  12  she  gives  the  impression 
of  that  visit  upon  her  heart  and  mind  in  the  following 
language : 

"Well  I  have  gazed  for  the  first  time  upon  Free  Land, 
and,  would  you  believe  it,  tears  sprang  to  my  eyes,  and  I 
wept.  Oh,  it  was  a  glorious  sight  to  gaze  for  the  first  time 
on  a  land  where  a  poor  slave  flying  from  our  glorious  land 
of  liberty  would  in  a  moment  find  his  fetters  broken,  his 
shackles  loosed,  and  whatever  he  was  in  the  land  of  Wash- 
ington, beneath  the  shadow  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument  or 
even  Plymouth  Rock,  here  he  becomes  a  man  and  a  brother. 
I  have  gazed  on  Harper's  Ferry,  or  rather  the  Rock  at  the 
Ferry ;  I  have  seen  it  towering  up  in  simple  grandeur,  with 
the  gentle  Potomac  gliding  peacefully  at  its  feet,  and  felt 
that  that  was  God's  masonry,  and  my  soul  has  expanded  in 
gazing  on  its  sublimity.  I  have  seen  the  ocean  singing  its 
wild  chorus  of  sounding  waves,  and  ecstacy  has  thrilled 
upon  the  living  chords  of  my  heart.  I  have  since  then  seen 
the  rainbow-crowned  Niagara  chanting  the  choral  hymn 
of  Omnipotence,  girdled  with  grandeur,  and  robed  with 
glory ;  but  none  of  these  things  have  melted  me  as  the  first 
sight  of  Free  Land.  Towering  mountains  lifting  their 
hoary  summits  to  catch  the  first  faint  flush  of  day  when 
the  sunbeams  kiss  the  shadows  from  morning's  drowsy  face 
may  expand  and  exalt  your  soul.  The  first  view  of  the 
ocean  may  fill  you  with  strange  delight.  Niagara — the 
great,  the  glorious  Niagara — may  hush  your  spirit  with 
its  ceaseless  thunder;  it  may  charm  you  with  its  robe  of 
crested  spray  and  rainbow  crown  :  but  the  land  of  Freedom 
was  a  lesson  of  deeper  significance  than  foaming  waves  or 
towering  mounts." 


MEN    OF   MARYLAND.  !  ffl 

When  we  recall  the  scenes  of  those  awful  clays  of  sorrow, 
anxieties,  and  genuine  affliction,  centering  around  the 
tragic  outcome  of  the  "John  Brown's  raid,"  at  Harper's 
Ferry,  we  can  get  some  idea  of  the  deep  sensations  which 
energized  the  heart  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  from  the 
note  addressed  by  her,  from  her  home  in  Ohio,  to  John 
Brown's  wife.  On  that  memorable  occasion,  she  wrote 
thus : 

"My  Dear  Madam : — In  an  hour  like  this  the  common 
words  of  sympathy  may  seem  like  idle  words,  and  yet,  I 
want  to  say  something  to  you,  the  noble  wife  of  the  hero 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  Belonging  to  the  race  your 
dear  husband  reached  forth  his  hand  to  assist,  I  need  not 
tell  you  that  my  sympathies  are  with  you.  I  thank  you 
for  the  brave  words  you  have  spoken.  A  republic  that 
produces  such  a  wife  and  mother  may  hope  for  better  days. 
Our  heart  may  grow  more  hopeful  for  humanity  when  it 
sees  the  sublime  sacrifice  it  is  about  to  receive  from  his 
hands.  Not  in  vain  has  your  dear  husband  perilled  all, 
if  the  martydom  of  one  hero  is  worth  more  than  the  life  of 
a  million  cowards.  From  the  prison  comes  forth  a  shout 
of  triumph  over  that  power  whose  ethics  are  robbery  of  the 
feeble  and  oppression  of  the  weak,  the  trophies  of  whose 
chivalry  are  a  plundered  cradle  and  a  scourged  and  bleed- 
ing woman.  Dear  sister,  I  thank  you  for  the  brave  and 
noble  words  you  have  spoken.  Enclosed  I  send  you  a  few 
dollars  as  a  token  of  my  gratitude,  reverence  and  love. 

"Frances  Ellen  Watktns. 

"P.  S.— May  God,  our  own  God,  sustain  you  in  the  hour 
of  trial.  If  there  is  one  thing  on  earth  I  can  do  for  vou 
or  yours,  let  me  be  apprised.     I  am  at  your  service." 

It  was  in  the  fall  of  1860  that  Miss  Watkins  was  mar- 


68  MEN   OF    MARYLAND. 

ried  to  a  Mr.  Harper,  of  Ohio.     Mr.  Harper  died  in  May, 
1864. 

This  brave  woman  who  had  traveled  throughout  the 
North  in  the  interest  of  the  Anti-Slavery  cause,  imme- 
diately after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  was  among  the  very 
first  to  go  South,  and  labor  on  behalf  of  her  emancipated 
brethren.  She  traveled,  and  labored  in  nearly  every  one 
of  the  Southern  States.  She  went  on  the  plantations,  and 
amongst  the  lowly,  as  well  as  to  the  cities  and  towns,  ad- 
dressing schools,  churches,  meetings  in  Court  Houses, 
Legislative  Halls,  and  sometimes  under  the  most  trying  and 
hazardous  circumstances;  influenced  in  her  labor  of  love, 
wholly  by  the  noble  impulses  of  her  own  heart,  working 
her  way  along  unsustained  by  any  society.  She  came  into 
contact  with  all  classes,  the  original  slave  holders,  and  the 
Freedmen.  In  no  instance  did  she  permit  herself,  through 
fear,  to  disappoint  an  audience  when  engagements  had 
been  made  for  her  to  speak,  although  frequently  ad- 
monished that  it  would  be  dangerous  to  venture  in  so 
doing. 

In  a  letter  from  Darlington,  S.  C,  to  the  late  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Still,  of  Philadelphia,  under  date  of  May  13,  1867, 
she  writes : 

"You  will  see  by  this  that  I  am  in  the  sunny  South. 
I  here  read  and  see  human  nature  under  new  lights  and 
phases.  I  meet  with  a  people  eager  to  hear,  ready  to  listen, 
as  if  they  felt  that  the  slumber  of  the  ages  had  been 
broken,  and  that  they  were  to  sleep  no  more.  ...  I  am 
glad  that  the  colored  man  gets  freedom  and  suffrage  to- 
gether; that  he  is  not  forced  to  go  through  the  same  con- 
dition of  things  here,  that  has  inclined  him  so  much  to 
apathy,  isolation,  and  indifference,  in  the  North.  You, 
perhaps,  winder  why  I  have  been  so  slow  in  writing  to 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  09 

you,  but  if  you  knew  how  busy  I  am,  just  working  up  to 
or  past  the  limit  of  my  strength.  Traveling,  conversing, 
addressing  day  and  Sunday  Schools  (picking  up  scraps  of 
information,  takes  a  large  portion  of  my  time)  besides 
what  I  give  to  reading.  For  my  audiences  I  have  both 
white  and  colored.  On  the  cars,  some  find  out  that  I  am  a 
lecturer,  and  then,  again,  I  am  drawn  into  conversation. 
'What  are  you  lecturing  about?'  the  question  comes  up, 
and  if  I  say,  among  other  topics,  politics,  then  I  may  look 
for  an  onset.  There  is  a  sensitiveness  on  this  subject,  a 
dread  it  may  be  that  some  one  will  'put  the  devil  in  the 
nigger's  head,'  or  exert  some  influence  inimical  to  them; 
still,  I  get  along  somewhat  pleasantly. 

"Last  week  I  had  a  small  congregation  of  listeners  in 
the  cars,  where  I  sat.  I  got  in  conversation  with  a  former 
slave-dealer,  and  we  had  rather  an  exciting  time.  I  was 
traveling  alone,  but  it  is  not  worth  while  to  show  any  signs 
)f  fear.  .  .  .  Last  Saturday  I  spoke  in  Sumter ;  a  num- 
oer  of  white  persons  were  present,  and  I  had  been  invited 
;o  speak  there  by  the  Mayor  and  editor  of  the  paper.  There 
lad  been  some  violence  in  the  district,  and  some  of  my 
?riends  did  not  wish  me  to  go,  but  I  had  promised,  and,  of 
jourse,  I  went.  ...  I  am  in  Darlington,  and  spoke 
Yesterday,  but  my  congregation  was  so  large,  that  I  stood 
lear  the  door  of  the  church,  so  that  I  might  be  heard  both 
nside  and  out  for  a  large  portion,  perhaps,  nearly  half  of 
ny  congregation  were  on  the  outside;  and  this  is  Darling- 
on  where,  about  two  years  ago,  a  girl  was  hung  for  making 
,  childish  and  indescreet  speech.  Victory  was  perched  on 
>ur  banners.  Our  army  had  been  through,  and  this  poor, 
11-fated  girl,  almost  a  child  in  years,  about  seventeen  years 
»f  age,  rejoiced  over  the  event,  and  said  that  she  was  going 
o  marry  a  Yankee  and  set  up  housekeeping.     She  was 


70  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

reported  as  having  made  an  incendiary  speech  and  ar- 
rested, cruelly  scouraged,  and  then  brutally  hung.  Poor 
child,  she  had  been  a  faithful  servant — her  master  tried  to 
save  her,  but  the  tide  of  fury  swept  away  his  efforts.  .  .  . 
Oh,  friends,  perhaps,  sometimes  your  heart  would  ache,  if 
you  were  only  here  and  heard  of  the  wrongs  and  abuses  to 
which  these  people  have  been  subjected.  .  .  .  Things,  I 
believe,  are  a  little  more  hopeful;  at  least,  I  believe,  some 
of  the  colored  people  are  getting  better  contracts,  and,  I 
understand  that  there  is  less  murdering.  While  I  am 
writing  a  colored  man  stands  here,  with  a  tale  of  wrong — 
he  has  worked  a  whole  year,  year  before  last,  and  now  he 
has  been  put  off  with  fifteen  bushels  of  corn  and  his  food; 
yesterday  he  went  to  see  about  getting  his  money,  and  the 
person  to  whom  he  went,  threatened  to  kick  him  off,  and 
accused  him  of  stealing.  I  don't  know  how  the  colored 
man  will  vote,  but,  perhaps  many  of  them  will  be 
intimidated  at  the  polls." 

In  June  of  the  same  year,  Mrs.  Harper  writes  the  fol- 
lowing from  Cheraw,  South  Carolina : 

"Well,  Carolina  is  an  interesting  place.  There  is  not  a 
State  in  the  Union  I  prefer  to  Carolina.  Kinder,  more 
hospitable,  warmer-hearted  people,  perhaps,  you  will  not 
find  anywhere.  I  have  been  to  Georgia;  but  Carolina  is 
my  preference.  .  .  .  The  South  is  to  be  a  great  theatre 
for  the  colored  man's  development  and  progress.  There  is 
brain  power  here.  If  any  doubt  it,  let  him  come  into  our 
schools,  or  even  converse  with  some  of  our  Freed  men. 
either  in  their  homes  or  by  the  way-side." 

Mrs.    Harper's    Philadelphia    correspondent    had    jest-, 
insrly,  suo-gested  to  her  in  one  of  his  letters,  that  she  should 
be   careful  not   to   allow   herself   to   be   "bought   by   the 
rebels."     Her  reply  to  this  jesting  remark  is  specially  in- 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  71 


.teresting,  revealing  as  it  does,  her  wonderful  grasp  of  the 

.grave  and  intricate  situation.     She  said: 

j  " 

"Now,  in  reference  to  being  bought  by  rebels  and  be- 


coming a  Johnsonite,  I  hold  that  between  the  white  people 
I  and  the  colored  people  there  is  a  community  of  interests, 
and  the  sooner  they  find  it  out,  the  better  it  will  be  for 
(both  parties;  but  that  community  of  interest  does  not  con- 
sist in  increasing  the  privileges  of  one  class,  and  a  curtail- 
ing of  the  rights  of  the  other,  but  in  getting  every  citizen 
interested  in  the  welfare,  progress  and  durability  of  the 
.State.     I  do  not,  in  lecturing,  confine  myself  to  the  political 
cside  of  the  question.     While  I  am  in  favor  of  Universal 
.•Suffrage,  yet  I  know  that  the  colored  man  needs  something 
;more  than  a  vote  in  his  hands;  he  needs  to  know  the  value 
of  a  home  life;  to  rightly  appreciate  and  value  the  mar- 
triage  relation;  to  know  how  to  be  incited  to  leave  behind 
jhim  the  old  shards  and  shells  of  slavery  and  to  rise  in  the 
scale  of  character,  wealth,  and  influence.     Like  the  Nauta- 
lus  outgrowing  his  home  to  build  for  himself  more  'stately 
temples'  of  social  condition.     A  man  landless,  ignorant  and 
^poor  may  use  the  vote  against  his  interests;  but  with  in- 
telligence and  land  he  holds  in  his  hand  the  basis  of  power 
[land  elements  of  strength." 

Writing  from  Greenville,  Ga.,  Mrs.  Harper  says : 

"I  am  now  going  to  have  a  private  meeting  with  the 

women  of  this  place,  if  they  will  come  out.     I  am  going  to 

talk  with  them  about  their  daughters,  and  about  things 

connected  with  the  welfare  of  the  race.     Now  is  the  time 

for  our  women  to  begin  to  try  to  lift  up  their  heads  and 

olant  the  roots  of  progress  under  the  hearthstone.     Last 

light  I  spoke  in  a  school  house,  where  there  was  not,  to  my 

knowledge,  a  single  window  glass;  to-day  I  write  to  you 

n  a  lowly  cabin  where  the  windows  in  the  room  are  formed 


.1 


t 


I? 


72  MEN    OF    MARYLAND, 

by  two  apertures  in  the  wall.  There  is  a  widespread  and 
almost  universal  appearance  of  poverty  in  this  State  where 
I  have  been,  but,  thus  far,  I  have  seen  no,  or  scarcely  any. 
pauperism.  I  am  not  sure  that  I  have  seen  any.  The 
climate  is  so  hue,  so  little  cold  that  people  can  live  off  less 
than  they  can  in  the  North.  Last  night  my  table  was 
adorned  with  roses  although  I  did  not  get  one  cent  for  my 
lecture.    .    .    . 

"The  political  heavens  are  getting  somewhat  overcast. 
Some  of  this  old  rebel  element,  I  think,  are  in  favor  of 
taking  away  the  colored  man's  vote,  and  if  he  loses  it  now 
it  may  be  generations  before  he  gets  it  again.  Well,  after 
all,  perhaps,  the  colored  man,  generally,  is  not  really  de- 
veloped enough  to  value  his  vote  and  equality  with  other 
races  so  he  gets  enough  to  eat  and  drink,  and  be  comfort- 
able, perhaps  the  loss  of  his  vote  would  not  be  a  serious 
grievance  to  many;  but  his  children  differently  educated 
and  trained  by  circumstances  might  feel  political  in- 
feriority rather  a  bitter  cup.  After  all,  whether  they  en- 
courage me  or  discourage  me,  I  belong  to  this  race,  and 
when  it  is  down  I  belong  to  a  down  race;  when  it  is  up  I 
belong  to  a  risen  race." 

Mrs.  Harper  was  not  only  an  educated  and  queenly 
woman,  but  she  possessed  wonderful  self-control,  coupled 
with  a  remarkable  tactfulness.  These  rare  gifts  were 
greatly  in  evidence  in  her  extensive  Southern  campaign, 
after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War.  For,  the  woman  who  had 
been  so  bold  and  energetic  in  the  Anti- Slavery  cause,  with- 
out delay,  took  up  her  work  in  the  South  among  her 
recently  enfranchised  brethren,  going  in  among  the  most 
ultra  of  Southern  white  people,  and  compelling  their  ad- 
miration by  her  wise,  gracious,  and  discriminating  good  l 


} 


«! 


•• 


I 


\ 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  73 

l! 

reuse.  An  extended  account  of  her  Mobile  address  is 
*iven,  for  it  presents  a  true  grasp  of  the  most  intricate 
situation,  and  her  clever  handling  of  the  same. 

It  was  in  the  month  of  July,  1871,  in  the  city  of  Mobile, 
ila.  The  extract  here  presented  is  by  Mr.  John  Forsyth, 
editor  of  the  Mobile,  Alabama,  Eegister,  and  it  was  pub- 
ished  in  his  paper,  at  the  time,  indicating  the  impression 
fcide  upon  this  prominent  Southerner,  who  had  attended 
;he  "lecture"  more  out  of  curiosity  than  for  any  other 
Reason. 

j 

A  Lecture. 


«XXT, 


We  received  a  polite  invitation  from  the  trustees  of 
he  State  St.  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church 
o  attend  a  lecture  in  that  edifice  on  Thursda}^  evening. 
j3emg  told  that  the  discourse  would  be  delivered  by  a  female 
Colored  lecturer  from  Maryland,  curiosity,  as  well  as  inter- 
est to  see  how  the  colored  citizens  were  managing  their 
>>wn  institutions,  led  us  at  once  to  accept  the  invitation. 
7fe  found  a  very  spacious  church  gas  light,  and  the  balus- 
rades  of  the  galleries  copiously  hung  with  wreaths  and 
festoons  of  flowers,  and  a  large  audience  of  both  sexes, 
vhich,  both  in  appearance  and  behavior,  was  respectable 
,nd  decorously  observant  of  the  proprieties  of  the  place. 
flie  services  were  opened,  as  usual,  with  prayer  and  a 
lymn,  the  latter  inspired  by  powerful  lungs,  and  in  which 
die  musical  ear  at  once  caught  the  Negro  talent  for  melody, 
he  lecturer  was  then  introduced  as  Mrs.  F.  E.  W.  Harper, 
-rom    Maryland.     Without    a    moment's    hesitation    she 
'tarted   off   in   the    flow   of    her    discourse,   which   rolled 
moothly  and  uninterruptedly  on  for  nearly  two  hours, 
t  was  very  apparent  that  it  was  not  a   cut  and  dried 


74  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

speech,  for  .she  was  as  fluent  and  as  felicitous  in  her  allu- 
sions to  circumstances  immediately  around  her  as  she  was 
when  she  arose  to  a  more  exalted  pitch  of  laudation  of  the 
'Union/  or  of  execration  of  the  old  slave  system.  Her 
voice  was  remarkable — as  sweet  as  any  woman's  voice  we 
ever  heard,  and  so  clear  and  distinct  as  to  pass  every 
syllable  to  the  most  distant  ear  in  the  house.  Without  any 
effort  at  attentive  listening  we  followed  the  speaker  to  the 
end,  not  discerning  a  single  grammatical  inaccuracy  of 
speech,  or  the  slightest  violation  of  good  taste  in  manner 
or  matter.  At  times,  the  current  of  thoughts  flowed  in 
eloquent  and  poetic  expression,  and  often  her  quaint  humor 
would  expose  the  ivory  in  a  half  a  thousand  mouths.  We 
confess  that  we  began  to  wonder,  and  we  asked  a  fine  look- 
ing man  before  us,  'What  is  her  color?'  'Is  she  dark  or 
light?'  He  answered:  'She  is  mulatto;  what  they  call  a 
red  mulatto.'  The  'red'  was  new  to  us.  Our  neighbor 
asked,  'How  do  you  like  her  ?'  We  replied :  'She  is  giving 
your  people  the  best  kind  and  the  very  wisest  of  advice.' 
He  rejoined,  'I  wish  I  had  her  education.'  To  which  we 
added,  'that's  just  what  she  tells  you  is  your  great  duty, 
and  your  need  and  if  you  are  too  old  to  get  it  yourself,  you 
must  give  it  to  your  children." 

The  speaker  left  the  impression  on  our  mind  that  she 
was  not  only  intelligent  and  educated,  but — the  great  end 
of  education — she  was  enlightened.  She  comprehends  per- 
fectly the  situation  of  her  people,  to  whose  interests  she 
seems  ardently  devoted.  The  main  theme  of  her  dis- 
course, the  one  string  to  the  harmony  of  which  all  the  others 
were  attuned,  was  the  grand  opportunity  that  emancipa- 
tion had  afforded  to  the  black  race  to  lift  itself  to  the  level 
of  the  duties  and  responsibilities  enjoined  by  it.  "You 
have  muscle  power  and  brain  power,"  she  said;  "you  must 


MEN   OF   MARYLAND.  75 

i  utilize  them,  or  be  content  to  remain  forever  the  inferior 
trace.  Get  land,  every  one  that  can,  and  as  fast  as  you 
;  can.  A  landless  people  must  be  dependent  upon  the  landed 
people.  A  few  acres  to  till  for  food  and  a  roof,  however 
!  humble,  over  your  head,  are  the  castle  of  your  independence, 
j  and  when  you  have  it  you  are  fortified  to  act  and  vote  in- 
dependently whenever  your  interests  are  at  stake." 

That  part  of  her  lecture  (and  there  was  much  of  it) 
that  dwelt  on  the  moral  duties  and  domestic  relations  of 
•the  colored  people  was  pitched  on  the  highest  key  of  sound 
morality.  She  urged  the  cultivation  of  the  "home  life," 
i  the  sanctity  of  the  marriage  state  (a  happy  contrast  to  her 
strong-minded,  free  love,  white  sisters  of  the  North) ,  and 
:  the  duties  of  mothers  to  their  daughters,  "Why,"  said  she 
in  a  voice  of  much  surprise.  "I  have  actually  heard  since 
I  have  been  South  that  sometimes  colored  husbands  posi- 
tively beat  their  wives.  I  do  not  mean  to  insinuate  for 
a  moment  that  such  things  can  possibly  happen  in  Mobile. 
The  very  appearance  of  this  congregation  forbids  it;  but 
I  did  hear  of  one  terrible  husband  defending  himself  for 
the  unmanly  practice  with,  'Well,  I  have  got  to  whip  her 
or  leave  her.' " 

There  were  parts  of  the  lecturer's  discourse  that  grated 
a  little  on  a  white  Southern  ear,  but  it  was  lost  and  for- 
given in  the  genuine  earnestness  and  profound  good  sense 
with  which  the  woman  spoke  to  her  kind  in  words  of  sound 
advice. 

"On  the  whole,  we  are  very  glad  that  we  accepted  the 
Zion's  invitation.  It  gave  us  much  food  for  new  thought. 
It  reminded  us,  perhaps,  of  neglected  duties  to  these  col- 
ored people,  and  it  impressed  strongly  on  our  minds  that 
these  people  are  getting  along,  getting  onward,  and  progress 


76  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

was  a  star  becoming  familiar  to  their  gaze  and  their  de- 
sires. Whatever  the  Negroes  have  done  in  the  path  of  ad- 
vancement, they  have  done  largely  without  white  aid.  But 
politics  and  white  pride  have  kept  the  white  people  aloof 
from  offering  that  earnest  and  moral  assistance  which 
would  be  so  useful  to  a  people  just  starting  from  infancy 
into  a  life  of  self-dependence." 

Mrs.  Harper,  the  same  year,  writing  from  the  same  State, 
says : 

"While  in  Taladega  I  was  entertained,  and  well  enter- 
tained, at  the  house  of  one  of  our  new  citizens.  He  is 
living  in  the  house  of  his  former  master.  He  is  a  brick- 
maker  by  trade,  and  I  rather  think,  mason  also.  He  was 
worth  to  his  owner,  it  was  reckoned,  fifteen  hundred,  or 
about  that,  a  year.  He  worked  with  him  seven  years ;  and 
in  that  seven  years  he  remembers  receiving  from  him — 
fifty  cents.  Now  mark  the  contrast.  That  man  is  now 
free,  owns  the  home  of  his  former  master,  has  I  think,  more 
than  sixty  acres  of  land,  and  his  master  is  in  the  poor- 
house.  I  heard  of  another  such  case  not  long  since.  A 
woman  was  cruelly  treated  once,  or  more  than  once.  She 
escaped  and  ran  naked  into  town.  The  villain  in  whose 
clutch  she  found  herself  was  trying  to  draw  her  downward 
to  his  own  low  level  of  impurity,  and  at  last  she  fell.  She 
was  poorly  fed,  so  that  she  was  tempted  to  sell  her  person. 
Even  scraps  thrown  to  the  dogs  she  was  hunger-bitten 
enough  to  aim  for.  Poor  thing,  was  there  anything  in  the 
future  for  her  ?  Had  not  hunger,  and  cruelty,  and  prostitu- 
tion, done  their  work,  and  left  her  an  entire  wreck  for  life  ? 
It  seems  not.  Freedom  came  and  with  it  dawned  a  new 
era  upon  that  poor,  over-shadowed,  and  sin-darkened  life. 
Freedom  brought  opportunity  for  work  and  wages  com- 
bined.    She  went  to  work,  and  got  ten  dollars  a  month. 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  77 

She  lias  contrived  to  get  some  education,  and  has  since 
been  teaching  school.  While  her  former  mistress  has  been 
to  her  for  help. 

"  'Do  not  the  mills  of  the  gods  grind  exceedingly  fine  V 
And  she  has  helped  that  mistress,  and  so  has  the  colored 
man  given  money,  from  what  I  heard,  to  his  former  master. 
After  all,  friends,  do  we  not  belong  to  one  of  the  best 
branches  of  the  human  race?  And  yet,  how  have  our 
people  been  murdered  in  the  South,  and  their  bones  scat- 
tered at  the  grave's  mouth.  Oh,  when  will  we  have  a  gov- 
ernment strong  enough  to  make  human  life  safe  ?" 

Fifty  thousand  copies,  or  more,  of  the  four  volumes  by 
Mrs.  Harper  have  been  sold.  During  her  latter  years  she 
published  her  greatest  work,  "Iola  Leroy,  or  Shadows  Up- 
lifted." Before  the  Civil  War  she  was  in  the  service  of 
the  Anti-Slavery  Society;  since,  then,  by  appointment  of 
the  Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  she  held  the 
office  of  "Superintendent  of  Colored  Work"  for  years. 
She  also  held  the  office  of  one  of  the  Directors  of  the 
Women's  Congress  of  the  United  States.  Under  the 
auspices  of  these  influential  associations,  she  has  often  been 
seen  on  their  platforms  with  the  leading  women  orators  of 
the  nation. 

Grace  Greenwood,  in  the  Independent,  in  noticing  a 
course  of  Lectures  in  which  Mrs.  Harper  participated  (in 
Philadelphia)  thus  portrays  her: 

"Next  on  the  course  was  Mrs.  Harper,  a  colored  woman, 
about  as  colored  as  some  of  the  Cuban  belles  I  have  met  at 
Saratoga.  She  has  a  noble  head,  this  bronze  muse;  in  a 
strong  face  with  a  shadowed  glow  upon  it,  indicative  of 
thoughtful  fervor  and  of  a  nature  most  femininely  sensitive, 
but  not  in  the  least  morbid.     Her  form  is  delicate,  her 


78  MEN    OF   MARYLAND. 

hands  daintily  small.  She  stands  quietly  besides  her  desk, 
and  speaks  without  notes,  with  gestures  few  and  fitting. 
Her  manner  is  marked  by  dignity  and  composure.  She  is 
never  assuming,  never  theatrical.  In  the  first  part  of  her 
lecture  she  was  most  impressive  in  her  pleading  for  the 
race  with  whom  her  lot  is  cast.  There  was  something 
touching  in  her  attitude  as  their  representative.  The  woe 
of  two  hundred  years  sighed  through  her  tones.  Every 
glance  of  her  sad  eyes  was  a  mournful  remonstrance  against 
injustice  and  wrong.  Feeling  on  her  soul,  as  she  must 
have  felt  it,  the  chilling  weight  of  caste,  she  seemed  to  say, 
'I  lift  my  heavy  heart  up  solemnly, 
As  once  Electra  her  sepulchral  urn/ 

a.  .  .  As  I  listened  to  her,  there  swept  over  me,  in  a 
chill  wave  of  horror,  the  realization  that  this  noble  woman 
had  she  not  been  rescued  from  her  mother's  condition, 
might  have  been  sold  on  the  auction  block,  to  the  highest 
bidder — her  intellect,  fancy,  eloquence,  the  flashing  wit, 
that  might  make  the  delight  of  a  Parisian  saloon,  and  her 
pure  Christian  character  all  thrown  in — the  recollection 
that  women  like  her  could  be  dragged  out  of  public  con- 
veyances in  our  own  city,  or  frowned  out  of  fashionable 
churches  by  Anglo-Saxon  saints." 

The  author  esteems  it  a  special  and  sacred  privilege  to 
have  personally  known  Mrs.  Harper,  and,  in  her  later  years, 
to  be  regarded  by  her,  a  most  devoted  friend.  As  Freder- 
ick Douglass  is  often  spoken  of  as  the  "Grand  Old  Man"  of 
Maryland,  in  like  manner,  it  is  eminently  fitting  to  think 
of  Frances  Ellen  Watkins  Harper  as  the  "Grand  Old 
Woman"  of  Maryland.  In  the  ages  yet  to  come,  the  re- 
deemed and  uplifted  womanhood  of  the  race  will  lovingly 
revert  to  the  precious  memories  of  the  past,  and  rise  up  and 
call  her  blessed  of  the  Lord. 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  79 


JAMES  THEODORE  HOLLY. 

The  original  settlement,  in  what  is  now  the  State  of 
Maryland,  was  in  St.  Mary's  comity.  St.  Mary's  county 
was  the  birthplace,  and  home,  of  the  ancestors  of  the  late 
Right  Reverend  James  Theodore  Holly,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  the 
first  Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in  the 
Republic  of  Haiti.  Bishop  Holly's  grandfather  assisted 
in  laying  out  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  parents  of 
the  Bishop  moved,  from  St.  Mary's  County  to  the  District 
where  young  Holly  was  born.  He  was  duly  baptized  in 
Holy  Trinity  Roman  Catholic  Church,  Georgetown,  by  a 
Roman  Catholic  priest  who  had  fled  to  this  country  from 
Haiti,  on  account  of  the  fury  of  the  blacks  during  the 
revolution  there.  On  the  4th  of  June,  1841,  when  he  was 
12  years  of  age,  in  the  church  of  his  Baptism,  he  was  con- 
firmed by  Archbishop  Eccleston,  of  the  Archdiocese  of  Bal- 
timore. 

Archbishop  Eccleston  was  a  native  of  the  Eastern  Shore, 
and  of  one  of  the  most  distinguished  families  of  Maryland. 
The  Archbishop  was  formerly  an  Episcopalian,  and,  it  was 
through  another  distinguished  member  of  the  Eccleston 
family  that  Bishop  Holly,  in  after  life,  was  greatly  honored. 
The  Rev.  J.  Houston  Eccleston,  D.  D.,  was,  for  many  years, 
rector  of  Emmanuel  Episcopal  Church,  Baltimore.  In 
this  congregation  are  many  of  the  wealthiest  and  most 
prominent  white  people  of  the  State.  On  several  occa- 
sions, on  invitation  of  Dr.  Eccleston,  the  rector,  Bishop 


80  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

Holly,  addressed  the  congregation.  A  notable  such  occa- 
sion was  on  a  certain  Sunday  evening  when  a  great  Mis- 
sionary meeting  was  held  in  Emmanuel  Church.  Quite  a 
number  of  Missionary  Bishops  were  on  the  program  as 
speakers.  Bishop  Holly  was  one  among  the  number.  He 
being  the  senior  Bishop  present,  by  consecration,  was 
readily  accorded  every  honor  of  that  position.  He  not  only 
delivered  his  address,  but  presented  the  offering,  and  lifted 
up  his  hands  in  solemn  benediction  over  that  great  white 
congregation.  Easily,  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  church, 
is  the  monument  to  Chief  Justice  Taney,  who,  about  the 
time  Bishop  Holly  was  made  a  priest,  delivered  the  famous 
opinion  in  the  celebrated  "Dred  Scott's  case"  to  the  effect 
that  a  Negro  had  no  rights  which  a  white  man  was  bound 
to  respect. 

Young  Holly  was  born  and  reared  in  the  Eoman  Com- 
munion, and  there  remained  until  he  was  twenty-two  years 
of  age.  He  was  a  shoemaker  by  trade,  and,  in  the  interest 
of  his  advancement  along  that  line,  he  removed  from  Wash- 
ington to  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  Later,  he  removed  to  Detroit, 
Mich.,  where,  in  1855,  he  was  ordained  a  deacon  in  the 
Episcopal  Church  by  the  Bishop  of  Michigan  the  late  Eight 
Reverend  Dr.  Samuel  A.  McCoskry.  Writing  the  present 
author,  some  years  ago,  Bishop  Holly  said,  in  part :  "I 
was  ordained  deacon  in  1855  with  the  express  understand- 
in  o-  that  I  should  be  sent  to  work  in  this  mission  field;  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  two  weeks  after  my  ordination  I  set  out 
from  Michigan  for  New  York;  from  whence  I  was  sent 
ten  days  later  by  the  Foreign  Committee  of  the  Church  to 
collect  information,  as  to  the  feasibility  of  establishing 
such  a  mission.  I  returned  from  thence  with  a  favorable 
report.  Six  years  were  then  spent  in  gaining  pastoral  ex- 
perience for  the  work  in  view;  and  to  this  end  I  was  ad- 


MEN    OF    MAEYLAND.  81 

vanced  to  the  Priesthood  by  the  Bishop  of  Connecticut,  on 
the  2nd  of  January,  1856,  when  I  accepted  the  pastoral 
charge  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  New  Haven,  in  that  diocese. 
Aside  from  the  active  pastoral  work  of  that  congregation, 
every  fitting  occasion  was  seized  during  those  six  years,  to 
stir  up  an  interest,  by  tongue,  pen,  and  the  press,  in  the 
contemplated  mission.  In  1861  my  face  was  again  set  to- 
wards Haiti,  accompanied  by  a  company  of  110  persons 
(of  whom  I  was  the  pastor)  ;  for  the  practical  establish- 
ment of  the  mission  in  this  land." 

In  October,  1871:,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  Eev.  Dr. 
Holly  was  duly  consecrated  a  Bishop  in  the  Church  of  God, 
with  jurisdiction  in  the  republic  of  Haiti.  Bishop  Holly 
was  the  very  first  man  of  the  African  race  to  be  made  a 
Bishop,  on  American  soil,  by  any  of  the  historic  Churches. 
His  was  a  hard  and  trying  field,  in  the  midst  of  a  popula- 
tion wholly  given  to  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church,  and  un- 
settled, through  frequent  political  revolutions.  Yet,  he 
bravely  persevered  in  his  work  steadily  advancing  it,  under 
all  the  trying  and  vexing  conditions. 

Both  in  America,  and  England,  his  character  and  learn- 
ing were  honored  and  respected.  A  number  of  years  ago, 
while  attending  one  of  the  "Lambeth  Conferences,"  em- 
bracing the  Bishops  of  the  Anglican  Communion,  through- 
out the  world,  he  offered  up  in  Westminster  Abbey,  that 
most  beautiful  and  striking  prayer  which  will  live  forever 
in  the  hearts  of  all  Christian  people  of  Hamitic  descent. 
Here  is  the  prayer : 

"0,  Thou  Savior,  Christ,  Son  of  the  Living  God,  who 
when  Thou  wast  spurned  by  the  Jews  of  the  race  of  Shem, 
and,  who  when  delivered  up  without  cause  by  the  Romans 
of  the  race  of  Japheth  on  the  day  of  Thy  ignominious 
Crucifixion,    hadst    Thy    ponderous    cross    borne    to    Gol- 


82  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

gotha's  summit  on  the  stalwart  shoulders  of  Simon  the 
Cyrenian,  of  the  race  of  Ham,  I  pray  Thee,  0  precious 
Savior,  remember  that  forlorn,  despised,  and  rejected  race, 
whose  son  thus  bore  Thy  Cross,  when  Thou  shalt  come  in 
the  power  and  majesty  of  Thy  eternal  Kingdom  to  dis- 
tribute Thy  crowns  of  everlasting  glory. 

"And  give  to  me  then,  not  a  place  at  Thy  right  hand  or 
at  Thy  left,  but  only  the  place  of  a  gatekeeper  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Holy  City,  the  new  Jerusalem,  that  I  may 
behold  my  redeemed  brethren,  the  saved  of  the  Lord,  enter- 
ing therein  to  be  partakers  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob 
of  all  the  joys  of  Thy  glorious  and  everlasting  Kingdom/' 

Bishop  Holly  was  a  great  student,  and  intensely  inter- 
ested in  every  phase  of  racial  life  and  advance.  Until  late 
}^ears,  he  wras  a  frequent  contributor  to  race  newspapers 
and  magazines. 

The  death  of  Bishop  ITolly  occurred  at  Port  au  Prince, 
Haiti,  March  13,  1911.  With  respect  to  the  funeral  serv- 
ices, the  following,  from  a  private  letter,  received  at  the 
time,  will  give  some  idea  of  the  esteem  in  which  the  Bishop 
was  held  by  the  people  of  that  country.    It  says : 

"No  one  remembers  seeing  such  a  funeral.  The  Presi- 
dent sent  a  company  of  his  Guard  of  Honor  the  Palace 
band  (the  best  in  the  West  Indies)  and  four  aides-de- 
camp. There  were  six  magnificent  wreaths,  and  a  pro- 
fusion of  bouquets.  The  crowd  that  followed  was  im- 
mense— the  sidewalks  and  balconies  were  crowded  with 
people  to  sec  the  funeral  go  by.  The  Mayor  of  the  city 
sent  to  inquire  through  what  streets  the  procession  would 
go,  and  then  sent  to  have  those  streets  perfectly  cleared. 
People  have  told  us  that  after  the  funeral  they  could  not" 
find  a  piece  of  mourning  in  town;  everywhere  they  were 
told  that  'Bishop  Holly  had  cleaned  them  out,'  so  great  was 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  *  83 

the  number  of  those  who  thought  it  their  duty  to  take 
mourning  for  the  Bishop.  The  funeral  services  began 
punctually  at  eight  in  the  morning  and  it  was  one  o'clock 
when  we  were  leaving  the  Church  yard  where  he  was 
buried.    There  were  eleven  clergymen  in  attendance." 


A  Writing  of  Bishop  Holly. 

The  following  is  a  portion  of  a  letter  received  by  the 
author  from  Bishop  Holly,  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago: 

.  .  .  It  is  well  for  us  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  day  for 
the  full  and  final  deliverance  of  our  race  from  political  and 
ecclesiastical  thraldom,  will  not  dawn  for  us  until  that 
Great  Event  takes  place.  The  -Mosaic  dispensation  was 
Semitic.  The  Gospel  dispensation  is,  principally,  Japhetic. 
But  the  Milennial  dispensation  will  be  Hamitic.  In  the 
words  of  the  Prayer  Book  version  of  the  Psalms :  "When 
God  shall  scatter  the  nations  that  delight  in  war,  then  shall 
Princes  come  out  of  Egypt,  and  the  Morians  land 
(Ethiopia)  shall  soon  stretch  out  her  hands  unto  God." 

This  will  be  the  moment  for  the  political  and  eccles- 
iastical deliverance  of  the  African  race.  It  will  take  place 
when  tile  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords  shall  have  scat- 
tered the  nations  which  delight  in  war.  These  are  em- 
phatically the  Japhetic  nations,  nominally  Christians,  but 
armed  at  this  moment  to  the  teeth  to  destroy  one  another 
in  defiance  of  the  Gospel  which  they  profess  to  believe 


84  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

whose  first  sentence  is,  "Glory  to  God  in  the  highest  and 
on  Earth  peace  and  good-will  towards  men."  Then  that 
race  whose  son  carried  the  Savior's  Cross,  while  the  Semitic 
and  Japhetic  races  united  to  crucify  Him,  will  wear  the 
Dispensational  Crown;  being  also  the  race,  which  in  the 
person  of  the  Ethiopian  eunuch,  furnished  the  first  convert 
of  pure  Gentile  blood  (through  a  Jewish  proselyte)  and 
who  hastened  to  stretch  out  his  hand  to  God,  when  Philip 
drew  near  to  him ;  and  even  to  ask  himself  for  Christian 
Baptism.  The  Lord  is  at  hand.  He  is  now  knocking  at 
the  door  of  the  Laodicean  Church.  Let  us  stand  in  our 
places  and  heed  the  exhortation  which  He  addressed  to  all 
therein.  Thus  we  shall  be  prepared  to  fulfill  our  mission 
in  His  Kingdom  soon  to  be  established  on  this  earth.  He 
was  buffeted  and  spit  upon  in  the  presence  of  the  Chief 
Ecclesiastics  at  His  First  Advent.  He  supported  all 
patiently.  If  we  would  be  like  Him  and  have  part  with 
Him  in  His  Kingdom,  we  must  show  the  like  patience 
under  injuries.  The  condition  of  servitude  meted  out  to 
our  race  for  four  thousand  years,  since  the  days  of  Noah, 
has  been  our  training  for  greatness  in  the  Kingdom  of 
God. 

It  has  indeed  been  our  reproach  during  this  domineering 
period  of  the  Semitic  and  Japhetic  Gentiles.  But  it  will 
be  no  longer  in  Christ's  Kingdom.  For  he  that  has  fully 
imbibed  the  spirit  of  being  the  servant  of  all  shall  be  the 
greatest  of  all  therein.  The  Master  has  given  us  that  as- 
surance. And  He  illustrated  what  kind  of  service  He 
meant  at  the  Last  Supper  by  serving  at  Table  Himself,  and 
by  washing  His  disciples  feet  after  Supper.  This  is  the 
kind  of  service  in  which  we  have  been  trained  and  so  far 
as  it  has  been  followed  in  the  right  spirit,  we  can  not  doubt 
what  will  be  our  great  reward  when  the  war-like  Japhetic 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  85 

nations  shall  be  dashed  in  pieces  at  His  Coming.    Hence, 
I  would  exhort  against  anything  like  a  schismatic  spirit. 

The  Semitic  and  Japhetic  nations  are  essentially  schis- 
matical.  They  divide  all  their  religions  up  into  sects,  and 
schools  of  thought,  and  ecclesiastical  parties.  Our  contact 
with  them  has  produced  similiar  divisions  amongst  us. 
But  it  is  not  a  religious  peculiarity  innate  in  the  African 
mind.  There  is  a  unity  in  the  dead  level  of  African  fetich- 
ism.  The  unity  in  the  truth  for  which  the  Savior  prayed 
so  earnestly  after  Supper  and  before  He  went  forth  to  His 
Agony  in  the  Garden,  will  come  forth  from  beneath  this 
dead  level  of  error  as  the  glad  response  at  last,  to  His 
earnest  prayer,  when  the  Spirit  of  God  shall  sweep  over 
the  valley  of  African  dry  bones  around  the  Congo,  on  the 
Niger,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Paul;  when  He  shall 
come  in  His  Glory." 

WILLIAM   LEVINGTON. 

Only  a  Marylander  by  adoption,  the  name  of  William 
Levington  is  entitled  to  appear  side  by  side  with  the  most 
distinguished  names  of  men  of  African  descent  born  on 
the  soil  of  Maryland.  Born  in  New  York  during  the  year 
1793,  as  a  young  man  we  find  him  in  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia,  in  connection  with  St.  Thomas'  Church,  that  city, 
which  was  established  the  very  year  Mr.  Levington  was 
born.  He  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  in  St.  Thomas'  Church,  in  the  month  of  March, 
1824,  by  Bishop  White,  who,  in  the  same  church  about  30 
years  before,  had  ordained  Absalom  Jones,  the  founder  of 
that  Church,  and  the  very  first  colored  man,  in  this  coun- 
try, admitted  to  the  ministry  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  It 
is  most  pleasing,  when  we  remember  the  social  condition 
of  the  people  of  color,  of  those  very  early  days,  to  note  the 


86  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

enthusiasm,  boldness,  and  courage,  of  a  young  colored  man, 
only  thirty  years  of  age,  of  free  ancestry,  indicated  in  his 
settled  determination  to  turn  his  face  towards  the  South- 
land and  proceed  to  the  very  house  of  bondage,  and,  in 
the  midst  of  the  slave  pen  and  the  auction  block,  under  the 
protection  of  Almighty  God,  endeavor  to  plant  a  Negro 
Church,  of  the  Episcopal  faith,  and  raise  over  its  edifice 
the  sign  of  the  conquering  Cross.  Thus  did  William  Lev- 
ington.  Almost  immediately  after  holy  hands  had  been 
laid  upon  his  head,  he  left  Philadelphia  and  came  to  the 
city  of  Baltimore.  He  looked  the  field  over.  He  returned 
to  Philadelphia,  and  after  a  short  stay,  again  returned  to. 
Baltimore,  and  on  the  22nd  day  of  June  of  that  same  year, 
in  an  "upper  room"  on  the  corner  of  Park  and  Marion 
streets,  secured  for  that  purpose,  initiated  the  present  St. 
James  First  African  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  In 
that  same  place  was  also  begun  by  Mr.  Levington  a  day 
school  for  the  benefit  of  free  African  Children.  He  la- 
bored incessantly  in  building  up  his  school,  the  congrega- 
tion, and  also  in  procuring  a  permanent  home  for  the  work. 
A  lot  was  secured  on  the  corner  of  Saratoga  and  North 
streets,  and  on  the  10th  of  October,  1826,  the  cornerstone 
of  St.  James  First  African  Church  was  duly  laid.  On  the 
31st  of  the  following  March  the  little  band  yielded  up 
their  upper  room  and  took  possession  of  their  new  church, 
which  was  on  that  day  consecrated  to  the  services  of  Al- 
mighty God,  by  Bishop  Kemp,  of  Maryland.  It  was  a  day 
of  peculiar  significance  to  the  descendants  of  the  African 
race  for  all  times  to  come,  for  it  was  the  .first  occasion,  any- 
where in  the  South,  where  a  local  branch  of  any  of  the 
existing  white  churches,  had  been  initiated  among  the  peo- 
ple of  the  African  race,  with  all  the  powers  of  self-govern- 
ment, as  well  as  with  an  educated  pastor  of  the  same  race 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  87 

as  the  congregation.  And.,  then,  too,  a  day  school  for  free 
African  children  was  attached  to  the  church.  That  such 
a  venture  had  the  full  approbation  of  the  white  Episcopal 
Church,  in  the  diocese  of  Maryland,  is  attested  by  the  fact, 
that  at  that  very  first  service  of  opening,  were  gathered 
together,  in  the  chancel,  and  participated  in  the  services 
the  Bishop,  and  the  rectors  of  the  two  white  parishes  in 
the  city  of  Baltimore,  St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter's  Churches. 
Bishop  Kemp,  in  making  the  entry  of  that  service  said : 

"On  the  31st  of  the  same  month  I  consecrated  to  the 
service  of  Almighty  God,  a  very  neat  church  in  the  city  of 
Baltimore,  for  the  use  of  the  people  of  color  under  the 
ministry  of  the  Eev.  Mr.  Levington.  Morning  Prayer  was 
read  by  the  Eev.  Dr.  Wyatt,  and  the  sermon  preached  by 
the  Eev.  Mr.  Henshaw.  The  congregation  was  large  and 
devout,  the  responses  were  well  made,  and  the  chanting 
and  singing  quite  delightful." 

The  Church  was  duly  incorporated  in  1829,  under  the 
laws  of  the  State  of  Maryland.  In  all  of  the  present 
author's  research  and  investigation  he  has  not  yet  come 
across  any  older  incorporated  body  of  people  of  African 
descent  than  the  corporation  of  St.  James  First  African 
Church,  in  the  State  of  Maryland.  In  1828,  Mr.  Leving- 
ton was  advanced  to  the  Priesthood,  in  Philadelphia,  by 
the  same  Bishop  White  who  had  ordained  him  a  deacon. 
The  Bishopric  of  Maryland  being  vacant,  through  the  death 
of  Bishop  Kemp,  the  Maryland  authorities  requested  the 
Pennsylvania  ecclesiastical  head  to  act.  Bishop  White 
makes  the  following  entry  with  respect  to  the  ordination : 

"On  the  23rd  of  March  (1828)  in  the  African  Church 
of  St.  Thomas,  in  this  city,  at  the  desire  of  the  Standing 
Committee  of  the  diocese  of  Maryland,  I*  ordained  to  the 
holy  office  of  Priest  William  Levington,  a  colored  man,  set- 
tled in  the  city  of  Baltimore." 


88  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

The  work  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Levins-ton  was  a  very  arduous 
and  exacting  one,  under  abnormal  and  unusual  difficulties. 
It  was  in  the  midst  of  a  population,  half  free,  and  half 
slave.  His  was  a  work  of  bringing  both  together  in  the 
worship  of  the  common  God  and  Father  of  all.  He  was 
forced  to  make  several  trips  north  to  secure  the  means  for 
the  liquidation  of  the  debt  incurred  in  the  erection  of  the 
church.  The  late  Mrs.  Way  man,  wife  of  the  late  African 
Methodist  Bishop  Wayman,  frequently  talked  with  the 
author  with  respect  to  the  days  she  spent  as  a  pupil  in  the 
school  taught  by  Mr.  Levington.  Bishop  Coppin,  of  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  himself  a  native  of 
Maryland,  also,  a  graduate  of  the  Episcopal  Divinity 
School,  Philadelphia,  yields  high  praise  to  Mr.  Levington, 
for  it  was  Mr.  Levington  who  instructed  the  Bishop's 
mother,  and  it  was  from  his  own  mother,  in  good  old 
Maryland,  that  Levi  J.  Coppin  got  his  first  intellectual 
start. 

From  the  last  report  of  Mr.  Levington,  to  the  Episcopal 
diocesan  convention,  the  following  is  taken : 

"The  Eector  of  St.  James  First  African  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  reports  that 
the  church  was  happily  reared  at  the  expense  of  $2,300. 
The  rector  has  visited  the  Northern  and  Eastern  States 
the  third  time,  and  solicited  aid  for  the  church,  to  ex- 
onerate her  of  debt;  and  his  last  visit  was  made  during 
the  past  summer,  and  on  Ids  return  January,  1834,  he 
paid  six  hundred  and  ten  dollars  of  the  debt,  and  also  got 
the  church  insured  until  January  1,  1841.  The  debt  now 
against  the  church  is  $673.37.  The  rector  would  say,  that 
although  the  Constitution  of  the  Church  gives  to  those 
of  his  brethren,  who  are  in  bondage,  the  right  of  member- 
ship  in  the   Church,  much  dissatisfaction  has  prevailed 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  89 

among  some  of  his  free  brethren;  yet,  with  the  blessing  of 
the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  it  has  been  happily  and 
finally  settled.  He  thanks  God  that  he  has  long  since  seen 
that  a  Gospel  Christian  bondsman  will  be  a  righteous  ser- 
vant, and  for  this,  and  other  reasons,  he  does  not  forget  to 
instruct  them  in  the  exercises  of  the  sanctuary;  for  he 
remembers  them  that  are  in  bonds,  as  bound  with  them." 
This  faithful  pioneer  missionary,  two  years  later,  in  May, 
1836,  fell  on  sleep,  being  only  in  his  43rd  year.  Although 
comparatively  young  when  he  entered  upon  eternal  rest, 
he  had  succeeded  in  doing  a  great  work  which  should  have 
a  telling  effect  during  all  the  years  to  follow.  Like  his 
Master,  he  had  no  where  to  lay  his  head.  He  gave  himself, 
and  all  that  came  to  him.  When  he  died,  he  had  not  suffi- 
cient of  this  world's  goods  to  defray  his  funeral  expenses. 
His  dear  friend,  the  Eev.  Dr.  Henshaw,  rector  of  St. 
Peter's  Church  (afterwards,  Bishop  of  Ehode  Island)  not 
only  officiated  at  his  funeral,  but  sustained  the  cost  of 
burial. 

And,  yet,  from  that  one  life,  good  permanent  results  are 
not  wanting.  Through  his  influence  William  Douglass 
entered  the  Church,  and  its  ministry.  And  from  the 
church  which  he  planted,  ordained  within  its  walls,  went 
forth  Eli  Worthington  Stokes  who  established  St.  Luke's 
Church,  New  Haven,  Conn.,  freed  the  Church  in  Provi- 
dence of  debt,  by  a  pilgrimage  to  England,  where  he  was 
helped  by  the  two  Archbishops,  and  other  dignitaries  of 
that  Church,  and,  returning  to  America,  went  forth  to 
Africa  as  a  missionary,  where  he  labored  and  died.  From 
the  same  source,  issued  Harrison  H.  Webb,  an  educator, 
and  successor  to  the  founder.  With  forty  members  of  the 
church  planted  by  Levington  the  present  St.  Mary's  con- 
gregation, of  this  city,  was  begun.     Former  communicants 


90  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

of  the  same  old  historic  church,  who  entered  the  ministry, 
have  established  Episcopal  Churches  in  Chicago,  St.  Louis, 
Atlantic  City,  Florida,  and  elsewhere.  Such  are  some  of 
the  results  of  the  life  of  a  young  free  Xegro,  who,  in  en- 
tering the  Priesthood  of  the  Church,  offered  up  that  life  as 
a  willing  sacrifice,  for  God  and  his  brethren  sake,  on  soil 
which  hitherto  had  not  been  trodden  by  any  Priestly  man, 
of  African  descent.  And  that,  tco.  in  close  proximity  to  the 
slave  pen  and  auction  block. 


JAMES  W.  C.  PENNINGTON. 

Just  a  little  beyond  the  line  separating  Maryland  from 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  in  Adams  county  of  the  Key- 
stone  commonwealth  lived  William  and  Phebe  Wright, 
good  and  true  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  In  the 
fall  of  the  year  1828,  as  Phebe  Wright,  surrounded  by  her 
little  children  came  out  upon  the  back  porch  of  her  home, 
in  the  performance  of  some  domestic  task,  she  saw  standing 
before  her  in  the  shade  of  the  early  Xovember  morn,  a 
colored  man  without  hat,  shoes  or  coat.  Tile  stranger  .in- 
quired whether  Mr.  Wright  lived  there,  and,  receiving  an 
affirmative  answer,  he  said  that  he  wanted  work.  The  good 
woman  took  in  the  situation  at  a  glance.  She  invited  him 
into  the  house  to  warm,  and  wait  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Wright. 
He  was  shivering  with  cold  and  fright.  When  Mr.  Wright 
had  arrived  the  fugitive  told  his  story.  He  came  from 
Hagerstown,   Md.,  where  he  had  been  taught  the  black- 


MEN    OE    MARYLAND.  91 

smith's  trade.    In  following  this  business,  it  was  his  duty 
to  keep  an  account  of  all  the  work  done  by  him,  which 
record  he  showed  to  his  master  at  the  end  of  eacJi  week. 
Knowing  no  written  character  but  the  figure  "5"  he  kept 
this,  account  by  means  cf  a  curious  system  of  hieroglyphics 
in  which  straight  marks  meant  horse  shoes  put  on,  circles, 
cart-wheels  fixed,  etc.    One  day  he  chanced  to  see  his  mas- 
ter's book,  and  he  noticed  that  wherever  5  and   1  were 
added,  the  figure  6  followed.     He  practised  this  until  it 
was  perfectly  familiar  to  him;  and,  ever  afterwards  used 
it  in  keeping  his  accounts.     One  day  as  his  master  was 
inspecting  his  books  he  noticed  the  new  character,  and  com- 
pelled Pennington  to  tell  how  he  had  learned  it.    The  mas- 
ter flew  into  a  rage,  and  said :     "I'll  teach  you  how  to  be 
learning  new  figures,"  and  picking  up  a  horse  shoe  threw 
it  at  him,  but,  fortunately,  for  the  chattel,  missed  him.    So 
genuine  was  the  moral  development  in  the  nature  of  Pen- 
nington, that,  notwithstanding  his  thirst  for  freedom,  he 
considered  it  his  duty  to  remain  with  his  master  until  he 
became  one  and  twenty  years  of  age,  so  as  to  repay,  by  his 
labor,  the  trouble  and  expense  of  the  master  in  rearing 
him.     But,  the  night  of  the  21st  anniversary  of  his  birth 
was,  indeed,  a  memorable  occasion,  for  it  was  that  same 
night  that  he  turned  his  face  towards  the  North  star  in  a 
desperate  effort  to  reach  a  land  of  freedom.     So,  on  that 
very  evening  he  started  out  on  his  pilgrimage  for  liberty. 
Upon   arriving  at  Eeisterstown,   about   twenty-five   miles 
from   Baltimore,   and   about   thirty-five    miles   from    Mr. 
Wright's  home,  he  was  arrested,  and  placed  in  a  bar-room, 
connected  with  the  tavern,  in  the  care  of  the  landlady,  to 
wait  until  his  captors  had  finished  their  supper.    The  land- 
lady, engaged  in  getting,  supper,  set  him  to  watch  the 
cakes  that  wrere  baking.     As  she  was  passing  back  and 


92  MEN    OF   MARYLAND. 

forth,  he  ostentatiously  removed  his  hat,  coat,  and  shoes. 
Having  done  this,  he  remarked  to  her,  "I'll  step  out  a 
moment."     This  he  did,  she  sending  a  boy  to  watch  him. 
When  the  boy  came  out,  he  suddenly  appeared  very  sick, 
and  called  hastily  for  water.     The  boy  ran  in  to  get  it. 
Now  was  the  break  for  liberty  or  death.     Now  was  his 
opportunity.     Jumping  the  fence  he  ran  to  a  clump  of 
trees  which  occupied  low  ground  behind  the  house,  and 
concealing  himself  in  it  for  a  moment,  ran,  and  continued 
to  run,  he  knew  not  wither,  until  he  found  himself  at  the 
toll-gate  near  Petersburg,  in  Adam's  county.     Before  this 
he  had  kept  in  the  fields  and  forests,  but  now  found  him- 
self compelled  to  come  out  upon  the  road.     The  toil-gate 
keeper,  seeing  at  once  that  he  was  a  fugitive,  said  to  him, 
"I  guess  you  don't  know  the  road."    "I  guess  I  can  find  it 
myself"  was  the  reply.    "Let  me  show  you,"  said  the  man. 
"You  may,  if  you  please,"  replied  the  fugitive.     Taking 
him  out  behind  his  dwelling,  he  pointed  across  the  fields 
to  a  new  brick  farm-house,  and  said,  "Go  there,  and  in- 
quire for  Mr.  Wright."     The  slave  thanked  him,  and  did 
as  he  was  directed.     Here  was  a  man  hardly  out  of  the 
house  of  bondage  who  was  destined  to  show  forth  in  himself 
the  great  possibilities  of  a  whole  race  of  people  denied  the 
opportunity  of  manifesting  the  wonders  of  God  in-wrought 
in  them.    Pennington  only  remained  with  William  Wright 
until  the  following  April,  but,  during  this  period,  short  as 
it  was,  in  addition  to  his  daily  labors  on  the  farm,  he 
learned  to  read,  write  and  cipher,  as  far  as  the  single  rule 
of  three,  as  it  was  then  called,  or  simple  proportion.    Dur- 
ing his  stay  here,  nothing  could  exceed  his  gratitude  to  the 
whole  family.     He  learned,  also,  how  to  graft  trees,  and 
thus  rendered  great  assistance  to  Mr.  Wright  in  his  busi- 
ness.   When  working  in  the  kitchen,  during  the  winter,  he 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  93 

would  never  permit  Mrs.  Wright  to  perform  any  hard 
labor;  he  always  scrubbed  the  floors,  and  lifted  heavy  bur- 
dens for  her.  Before  leaving  the  circle  of  Mr.  Wright's 
family,  he  assumed  a  name  which  his  talents,  perseverance, 
and  genius,  have  rendered  famous  in  both  hemispheres; 
that  of  James  W.  C.  Pennington.  W.  was  in  honor  of  his 
benefactor's  family,  while  C.  was  for  the  family  of  his  for- 
mer master.  Leaving  the  home  of  Mr.  Wright,  he  grad- 
ually made  his  way  to  New  Haven,  Conn.  Here,  while 
performing  the  duties  of  janitor  of  Yale  University,  he 
completed  the  studies  of  the  regular  college  course. 

Sometime  afterwards,  he  visited  England  where  he  de- 
livered addresses  on  behalf  of  the  Anti- Slavery  cause.  A 
story  has  often  been  told  of  him  in  connection  with  a  visit 
to  one  of  the  great  Universities  of  Scotland.  It  is  said 
that  he  displayed  such  marvelous  ability,  was  so  profound 
as  a  thinker,  and  rhetorician,  that  the  University  was  about 
to  confer  on  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  in  Divinity. 
But,  Mr.  Pennington  objected.  He  is  reported  as  having 
said,  in  substance,  "No,  gentlemen;  I  have  too  much  re- 
spect for  the  degree  to  run  the  risk  of  seeing  it  placed  upon 
the  auction  block ;  for  it  is  possible,  on  my  return  to 
America,  that  I  might  be  seized  and  placed  upon  the  auc- 
tion block,  and  sold  to  the  highest  bidder."  But,  finally, 
he  did  get  the  degree.  For,  later,  he  sojourned  for  awhile 
at  Heidelburg  in  Germany,  where  the  degree  was  conferred 
upon  him.  He  returned  to  this  country,  and  became  the 
Pastor  of  Shiloh  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York  City. 
While  in  such  position,  he  was  most  active  in  the  work  of 
the  Anti- Slavery  cause.  The  story  of  his  escape,  and  won- 
derful abilities,  was  spread  over  England.  An  American 
acquaintance  of  the  Wright  family  was  astonished,  in  visit- 
ing an  Anti- Slavery  fair  in  London,  many  years  ago,  to 


Di  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

see  among  the  pictures  for  sale  there,  one  entitled,  "Wil- 
liam and  Phebe  Wright  receiving  James  W.  C.  Penning- 
ton.'' Dr.  Pennington  died,  in  Florida,  in  1870,  whither 
he  had  gone  to  preach,  and  assist  in  opening  schools  among 
the  Freedmen. 

Nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  after  the  escape  from 
slavery  of  Dr.  Pennington,  while  he  was  pastor  of  the 
church  in  New  York,  efforts  were  made  to  effect  the  escape 
of  his  brother  who  was  still  in  slavery  in  Maryland.  In 
due  season,  his  brother,  and  his  brother's  two  sons,  were  on 
their  way,  by  way  of  the  Underground  Eailroad,  to  the  city" 
of  New  York.  At  the  very  time  the  Dr.'s  anxiety  was 
very  great  with  respect  to  their  safety,  they  had  arrived  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  and  being  pursued  by  slave  officers, 
had  been  overtaken  and  hurriedly  carried  before  a  commis- 
sioner, and  by  him  were  ordered  to  be  returned  to  Mary- 
land. It  was  very  great  grief  and  disappointment  to  Dr. 
Pennington,  that  his  brother,  and  his  brother's  sons,  had 
been  captured  and  returned  to  slavery  in  Maryland  before 
he  had  been  able  to  learn  of  their  presence  in  that  city.  A 
meeting  was  held  in  Shiloh  Church,  New  York,  on  the 
evening  of  May  27,  185^,  and  the  following  account  of  the 
same  will  prove  of  interest : 

"Last  evening  the  church  at  the  corner  of  Prince  and 
Marion  streets  was  filled  with  an  intelligent  audience  of 
white  and  colored  people,  to  hear  Dr.  Pennington  relate 
the  circumstances  connected  with  the  arrest  of  his  brother 
and  nephews.  He  showed  that  he  attempted  to  afford  his 
brother  the  assistance  of  counsel,  but  was  unable  to  do  so, 
the  officers  at  the  Marshal's  office  having  deceived  him  in 
relation  to  the  time  the  trial  Avas  to  take  place  before  the 
Commissioners.  Hon.  E.  F.  Culver  next  addressed  the 
audience,  showing  that  a  great  injustice  had  been  done  to 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  95 

the  brother  of  Dr.  Pennington,  and  though  he,  up  to  that 
time,  had  advocated  peace,  he  now  had  the  spirit  to  tear 
down  the  building  over  the  Marshal's  head.  Intense  inter- 
est was  manifested  during  the  proceedings,  and  much  sym- 
pathy in  behalf  of  Dr.  Pennington." 

In  a  day  or  two,  Dr.  Pennington  received  a  letter  from 
Mr.  Grove,  the  claimant  of  his  brother,  offering  to  sell  him 
to  Dr.  Pennington,  should  he  wish  to  buy  him,  and  stating 
that  he  would  await  a  reply,  before  "selling  him  to  the 
slave-drivers."  In  the  midst  of  the  Dr.'s  grief,  friends 
-of  the  slave  soon  raised  money  to  purchase  his  brother, 
about  $1,000;  but  the  unfortunate  sons  were  doomed  to  the 
auction  block  and  the  far  South. 


Dr.  Pennington  in  Cleveland. 

Dr.  Pennington  addressed  a  Convention  of  Colored  Citi- 
zens, held  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  September  8,  1852,  and  the 
following  is  from  a  phonographic  report  at  the  time : 

"The  doctor  took  the  stand  and  delighted  the  convention 
with  a  brilliant  and  instructive  address  on  the  part  which 
the  Colored  People  have  taken  in  the  struggles  of  this 
Nation  for  independence,  and  in  its  various  wars  since  its 
acheivement. 

Dr.  Pennington  is  a  graduate  of  America's  Peculiar  In- 
stitution (slavery).  His  graduation  fees  were  paid  only 
very  recently  by  the  beneficence  of  sundry  English  ladies 
and  gentlemen;  and  his  Doctorate  of  Divinity  was  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  one  of  the  German  Universities. 


90  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

He  claimed  for  his  race  the  honor  of  being  the  first 
Americans  whose  bosoms  were  fired  by  the  spirit  of  Ameri- 
can Independence.  The  documentary  evidence  presented 
by  him  showed  that  some  thousands  of  Colored  People  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  thirty  years  before  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  were  charged  by  the  King  of  Great 
Britain  with  conspiring  against  his  authority,  attempting 
to  throw  off  their  obedience  to  him,  and  seeking  to  possess 
themselves  of  the  Government  of  the  Colony  of  New  York. 
Some  of  them  were  banished,  and  other  were  hanged. 
Those  Colored  fathers,  said  the  Eev.  Doctor,  attributed 
their  slavery  to  King  George,  and  maintained  their  rights 
to  freedom  to  be  inviolable. 

Subsequently,  when  the  White  fathers  of  the  Revolution, 
"walking  in  the  footsteps  of  their  illustrious  Colored  prede- 
cessors," declared  against  Britain's  King,  they  said  to 
them:  That  King  did  make  you  slaves.  Now  come  and 
help  us  to  break  his  rule  in  this  country,  and  that  done, 
we'll  all  be  free  together. 

Dr.  Pennington  exhibited  to  the  audience  an  autograph 
petition  of  the  Colored  People  of  Connecticut  to  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  State,  presented  immediately  after  the 
Revolutionary  War,  and  praying  that  Government  to  com- 
ply with  the  promise  which  had  been  made  them  of  free- 
dom, and  under  which  they  had  helped  to  fight  the  battles 
of  that  war. 

He  read  also,  an  autograph  paper  of  Washington,  dis- 
missing from  the  service  of  that  war,  with  high  recommen- 
dation  of  their  courage  and  efficiency,  several  Colored  men  ; 
and  also  certificates  of  a  like  character  from  a  number  of 
officers,  both  naval  and  military,  in  both  wars  with  Eng- 
land. 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  97 


THE  DESTINY  OF  THE  COLORED  RACE. 


The  following  article,   "The   Destiny  of  the   Colored 

Race  in  the  United  States,"  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 

Pennington,  Was  Contributed  to  and 

Published  in  the  "Christian 

Recorder"  During  the 

!  Year  1852. 

"It  was  remarked  by  a  distinguished  statesman  that  the 
j  future  destiny  of  the  Colored  race  will  be  identified  with 
the  interests  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  in  America.     That 
sentiment  will  be  verified.     The  Colored  race  will  never 
be  entirely  separated  or  removed  from  this  country  as  a 
race,  and  located  somewhere  else.     History  forbids  the  in- 
dulgence of  the  supposition.     Nowhere  in  the  history  of 
I  nations,  where  slavery  has  existed,  have  the  enslaved  been 
entirely  separated  or  removed  from  the  land  of  their  op- 
jpression,  except  in  the  solitary  instance  of  the  Hebrews 
ifrom    Egypt,    and    their    separation    was    the    effect    of 
Heaven's  purpose,  or  their  destiny  to  this  clay  would  have 
ibeen  identified  to  some  extent  with  the  land  of  Miriam. 
The  Grecian  and  Roman  slaves,  after  their  emancipation, 
had  their  destiny  with  those  nations,  and  rose  to  every 
degree  of  distinction  as  laborers,  mechanics,  merchants, 
agriculturists,  manufacturers,  men  of  science  and  literature, 
men  of  professions — in  religion,  in  medicine,  in  law,  and 
the  military  profession.    In  all  of  the  Atlantic  Islands  de- 


98  MEN   OF   MARYLAND. 

pendent  upon  Spain,  France  and  England,  where  slavery 
has  obtained  and  emancipation  has  taken  place,  the  eman- 
cipated remain  upon  the  soil,  and  have,  and  are  becoming 
the  owners  of  the  same  to  a  considerable  extent,  and  are 
rapidly  rising  in  the  scale  of  civilization,  like  the  cloud- 
less sun  appearing  above  the  horizon,  bending  his  way  to 
the  high  point  of  the  zenith,  scattering  darkness  and  dif- 
fusing warmth  and  light  abroad;  so  they* in  whose  favor 
right  has  triumphed  over  wrong,  and  tjnth  over  error,  are 
rising  above  the  night  of  ignorance  and  slavery,  to  the 
bright  zenith  of  civil,  social,  political  and  religious  priv- 
ileges. 

Such  will  be  the  destiny  of  the  Colored  race  in  this  coun- 
trv.  That  thousands  will  emigrate  while  their  condition 
is  being  agitated,  to  escape  from  the  noise  and  the  strife 
of  the  mighty  contest,  between  truth  and  error,  like  those 
who  live  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  battlefield,  to 
secure  their  safety  and  avoid  the  sight  of  the  deadly  on- 
slaught, flee  to  more  remote  parts,  is  not  denied.  Some  will 
take  the  false  advice  of  the  Colonizer,  that  their  condition 
can  only  be  improved  materially  by  breaking  up  every  tie 
and  happy  association  of  their  native  and  civilized  land, 
and  going  to  a  purely  heathen  and,  to  a  great  extent,  bar- 
barous country. 

A  few  attracted  bv  the  fact  that  Haiti  has  a  a;overnment 
conducted  by  their  colored  brethren,  will  seek  repose  under 
the  shades  of  the  mountains  of  that  eventful  island,  and 
be  protected  by  the  laws  of  the  second  colored  emperor  in 
the  history  of  man.  Others,  in  consequence  of  the  known 
humanity  and  benevolence  of  the  British  isles  towards  the 
Colored  race  will  go  there  to  share  their  hospitality  and 
good-will,  and  will  improve  as  those  islands  are  rapidly 
advancing  in  all  the  arts  of  civilized  life. 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  99 

Many  hundreds,  amid  a  thouand  opposing  difficulties, 
will  cross  our  inland  seas  to  the  country  reserved  by  a 
beneficent  Providence  for  the  safe  repose  of  abused  hu- 
manity^ and  find  comfort  and  succor  under  British  laws, 
while  two  opposing  elements,  truth  and  error,  shall  be  con- 
tested upon  the  field  of  right  for  the  unconditional  free- 
dom of  the  captive  on  the  one  side,  and  his  continued  servi- 
tude on  the  other.  Truth,  it  is  pleasing  to  reflect,  being 
armed  can-a-pie  with  omnipotent  energy,  will  doubtless 
place  her  victorious  flag  upon  the  high  summit  of  con- 
quest, and  command  the  admiration  and  shouts  of  an  ex- 
ulting world.  While  this  fearful  contest  shall  be  going 
on,  the  refugee  on  British  soil  will  be  advancing  in  per- 
sonal improvement,  in  mental  culture,  in  the  arts  and 
sciences,  and  the  acquisition  of  ownership  in  the  soil — ali 
of  which  combined  will  secure  for  them  a  public  respect 
and  confidence  such  as  will  make  them  feel  at  home  and 
at  ease.  But  the  millions  will  remain  in  this  country,  and 
be  identified  with  the  history  of  the  white  race,  be  that 
history  what  it  may. 


ELI  WORTHINGTON  STOKES. 

Way  back  in  the  "forties,"  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  were 
two  brothers,  Eli  and  Darius  Stokes,  who  figured  con- 
spicuously in  the  life  of  the  colored  people  of  the  city. 
Darius  was  a  local  preacher  in  Bethel  A.  M.  E.  Church, 
while  his  brother,  Eli,  was  a  prominent  member  of  St. 


LOO  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

James  First  African  Church.  These  two  colored  congre- 
gations were  the  only  ones  having  colored  pastors.  The 
buildings  of  each  were  only  about  two  blocks  distant,  and 
good  Christian  feeling,  and  co-operation,  existed  between 
the  members  of  the  two  congregations. 

The  first  important  notice  of  Eli  Stokes  is  in  connection 
with  his  ordination  to  the  Episcopal  ministry.    The  edifice 
of  St.  James  was  erected  in  the  year  1826-7,  and,  the  ordi- 
nation of  Mr.  Stokes  was  the  first  to  take  place  therein. 
It  occurred  on  the  1st  day  of  October,  1843,  and  the  cele- 
brated and  learned  Bishop   Whittingham   officiated.     As 
High  Churchman  as  was  Bishop  Whittingham,  yet  it  is  a 
fact  that  he  was  most  kindly  disposed  towards  many  of  the 
African   Methodist  preachers  of  that  day.     The  present 
author  distinctly  remembers  a   conversation  between  the 
venerable  Bishop  Henry  M.  Turner,  of  the  African  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  some  years  ago,  at  the  Episcopal 
Eesidence  in  Baltimore,  and  the  late  Bishop  Paret,  of  the 
Protestant    Episcopal    Church,    in    which    conversation, 
Bishop  Turner  declared,  that  many  }^ears  before,  he  had 
gained  his  first  knowledge  of   Greek  in  that  very  house 
from  the  lips  of  the  late  Bishop  Whittingham.     Possibly, 
it  would  be  quite  interesting  to  note,  that  the  occasion  re- 
sponsible for  the  presence  of  Bishop  Turner  at  the  Episco- 
pal Eesidence,  was  in  response  to  an  invitation  from  the 
late  Bishop  Paret,  to  the  entire  ""house  of  Bishops''  of  the 
A.  M.  E.  Church,  at  that  time  holding  session  in  the  citv 
of  Baltimore.    The  invitation  was  generously  accepted,  and 
every  one  of  the  Bishops  were  present.     The  interview, 
which  was  most  cordial,  all  around,  lasted  for  nearly  three 
hours.     We  have  digressed  to  make  mention  of  this  un- 
usual occurrence,  which  is  without  a  parallel,  anywhere  in 
the  United  States. 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  101 

But,  to  return  to  the  ordination  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stokes. 
In  making  the  entry  of  the  ordination,  Bishop  Whitting- 
ham  said: 

"On  the  16th  Sunday  after  Trinity,  October  1,  at  a 
special  ordination  held  in  St.  James  First  African  Church, 
in  Baltimore,  I  admitted  to  the  Holy  Order  of  Deacons, 
'  Elie  Worthington  Stokes,  a  colored  man  presented  by  the 
Rev.  J.  N.  McJilton.  His  case  involving  some  peculiarities, 
I  consulted  on  it  both  the  Standing  Committee  and  a  coun- 
cil of  Presbyters  especially  convened;  and  acted  finally 
under  the  advice  of  both." 

Upon  being  ordained,  Mr.  Stokes  did  not  tarry  very  long 
in  Maryland,  but,  going  to  New  Haven,  Conn.,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  gathering  sufficient  colored  communicants  to- 
gether, from  the  various  white  churches,  and  organized 
St.  Luke's  Church  of  that  city.  This  church  was  organ- 
ized in  June,  1844,  and  during  that  very  same  month  was 
duly  received  into  union  with  the  diocesan  convention  of 
Connecticut.  Mr.  Stokes  remained  in  New  Haven  about 
two  years,  during  which  time  he  was  advanced  to  the  Priest- 
hood by  the  Bishop  of  Connecticut.  The  occasion  of  his 
leaving  Connecticut  was  in  response  to  an  invitation  from 
his  old  friend  (formerly  the  Eev.  Mr.  Henshaw,  of 
Baltimore)  then,  Bishop  of  Bhode  Island,  to  accept  a 
similar  work  in  the  city  of  Providence.  Here  he  remained 
for  about  four  years,  but,  in  that  time,  not  only  did  good 
work,  but  with  the  approval  of  his  Bishop,  crossed  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  visited  England  and  collected  sufficient 
money  to  free  of  debt  his  little  (Christ)  Church,  Provi- 
dence. The  mention  of  this  visit,  by  Bishop  Henshaw,  in 
his  Episcopal  address,  is  extremely  gracious.  In  part,  the 
Bishop  said : 

"At  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  the  last  convention,  the 


102  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

Eev.  Eli  W.  Stokes,  rector  of  Christ  Church,  in  this  city, 
was  absent  in  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  soliciting  funds 
to  liquidate  the  debt  by  which  that  parish  has  been  em- 
barrassed ever  since  their  house  of  worship  was  erected.  In 
consequence  of  a  certificate,  required  by  the  laws  of  Eng- 
land, furnished  by  me,  he  was  received  with  great  kind- 
ness by  the  Archbishops,  Bishops  and  Clergy  of  our  'Mother 
Church;  and  I  am  happy  to  inform  you  that  his  mission 
was  crowned  with  entire  success,  and  the  liberal  contribu- 
tions which  he  received  in  that  distant  land  enabled  the 
gentlemen  holding  the  property,  in  trust,  to  make  a  satis- 
factory settlement  with  the  mortgagees." 

But,  Colored  Episcopalians  in  Providence  were  few  and 
poor,  and,  not  being  able  to  obtain  an  adequate  support, 
Mr.  Stokes  accepted  an  appointment  as  Missionary  to 
Africa.  There  he  labored  most  faithfully.  As  early  as  in 
the  "fifties,"  Mr.  Stokes,  together  with  the  late  Eev.  Dr. 
Crummell,  who  was  then  in  Africa,  assisted  in  organizing 
the  "Liberian  Church,"  hoping  thereby,  to  force  the  Church 
in  the  United  States  to  give  to  the  African  Mission  a 
Negro  Bishop. 

After  hard,  incessant,  and  heroic  labors,  as  a  missionary, 
he  died  on  the  field,  in  Africa.  An  account  of  his  death, 
under  date  of  February  27,  1867,  was  furnished  the  "Spirit 
of  Mission,"  from  which  the  following  is  taken : 

"His  death  will  be  greatly  felt  just  now  in  our  Mission. 
Mr.  Stokes  was  a  thorough  going,  energetic,  working  old 
man.  He  went  to  Crozerville  with  his  heart  set  to  make 
and  to  leave  the  work  of  his  divine  Master's  hand  upon  the 
place.  He  died  in  the  faith  of  the  Gospel  he  had  preached. 
Though  Mr.  Stokes  Avas  not  a  strong  and  ablebodied  man, 
he  was  full  of  faith  and  abounded  in  charity  towards  the 
poor.     How  often  he  lias  divided  his  last  crust  of  bread, 


MEN    OF   MARYLAND.  103 

God  only  knows.  It  appears  to  us,  that  on  these  points,  he 
never  calculated  his  own  interests.  He  was  reduced  more 
by  the  want  of  the  real  necessities  of  life,  at  last,  than  by 
sickness,  is  the  opinion  of  the  doctors  and  all  who  saw  and 
attended  him.  Nourishment  could  not  rally  his  exhausted 
strength.  The  people  of  his  own  parish  were  very  poor, 
and  Eli  Stokes  was  not  the  man  to  look  upon  this  and  not 
act.  The  people  at  Crozerville  had  already  learned  to  love 
and  respect  him.  His  work  told  that  he  was  on  the 
ground.  He  had  established  day  and  Sabbath  Schools, 
and  preached  and  held  services  at  Crozerville  and  Carys- 
burg.  He  was  found  in  a  hut  lying  on  a  mat,  and  an  old 
blanket  under  his  head.  Mr.  David,  senior  warden  of  St. 
John's,  New  York,  heard  of  his  illness  and  visited  him; 
he  was  brought  in  almost  a  dying  state  to  his  house.  Dr. 
McGill,  of  the  firm  of  McGill  Brothers,  was  soon  on  the 
ground  (eighteen  miles  from  Monrovia)  with  such  nour- 
ishments which  would,  it  was  hoped,  bring  him  upon  his 
feet  again.  The  doctor  repeated  the  visit,  and  Mr.  David, 
wife  and  friends,  did  all  that  could  be  done,  but  he  sank 
until  the  26th  of  February  and  died.  Nearly  all  of  his 
!  talk,  as  long  as  he  could  talk,  and  when  he  could  not  be 
understood,  seemed  to  be  of  the  Missionary  work  here, 
and  the  troubles  that  retarded  it.  He  was  buried  at  Wood- 
lawn,  by  a  brook,  under  a  Palm  tree." 

HARRIET  TUBMAN  (DAVIS.) 
There  is  hardly  a  more  picturesque  character  among 
the  workers  and  traffic  managers  of  the  "Underground 
Eailroad"  than  Harriet  Tubman,  who  was  born  in  Mary- 
land, when  men  and  women  were  slave  property.  In  1848, 
when  she  was  between  twenty  and  twenty  five  years  of  age 
she  made  her  escape  from  the  house  of  bondage.  The  thing 
that  strengthened  her  will  and  aroused  her  determination  to 


101  MEN    OF   MARYLAND. 

make  a  break  for  freedom,  was  the  thought  of  herself  and 
brothers  being  "sold  South."  As  she  said,  guided  only 
by  the  North  Star,  she  and  her  brothers  started  out  for 
freedom.  But  after  they  had  gone  some  distance,  through 
fear  that  they  would  not  succeed,  like  Lot's  wife,  her  broth- 
ers turned  back.  Harriet,  however,  continued  her  journey 
alone,  and  reached  the  promised  land.  But,  so  intense 
was  her  love  for  her  people  that  she  determined  to  become 
a  "Moses,"  in  the  work  of  the  great  Underground  Baii- 
road.  She  made  nineteen  different  trips  in  the  South  and 
safely  conducted  more  than  three  hundred  persons  to  free- 
dom in  the  Northern  States,  and  Canada.  A  most  remark- 
able thing  it  is  that  not  a  single  fugitive  under  her  direc- 
tion was  ever  captured.  During  the  Civil  AVar  she  was 
employed  in  the  secret  service  of  the  United  States  Army, 
and,  during  the  last  year  of  the  war,  she  was  armed  with 
papers  which  admitted  her  through  the  lines  of  the  army 
in  any  part  of  the  country.  In  the  history,  by  Prof.  Albert 
Bushnell  Hart,  is  given  a  unique  description  of  the  battle 
of  Gettysburg,  from  the  lips  of  Harriet  Tubman,  to  the 
historian.     A  sentence  from  that  description  is  as  follows : 

"And  then  we  saw  the  lightning,  and  that  was  the 
guns;  and,  then  we  heard  the  rainfall,  and  that  was  the 
drops  of  blood  falling;  and  when  we  came  to  get  in  the 
crops  it  was  dead  men  that  wre  reaped." 

Mr.  William  Still,  in  his  invaluable  work,  describes  the 
subject  of  our  sketch,  as  follows : 

"Harriet  was  a  woman  of  no  pretensions,  indeed,  a 
more  ordinary  specimen  of  humanity  could  hardly  be  found 
among  the  most  unfortunate-looking  farm  hands  of  the 
South.  Yet,  in  point  of  courage,  shrewdness  and  disin- 
terested exertions  to  rescue  her  fellowr-men,  by  making 
personal   visits   to   Maryland  among   the   slaves,   she   w<as 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  105 

without  her  equal. 

"Her  success  was  wonderful.  Time  and  again  she 
made  successful  visits  to  Maryland  on  the  Underground 
Bailroad,  and  would  be  absent  for  weeks,  at  a  time,  running 
risks  while  making  preparations  for  herself  and  passengers. 
Great  fears  were  entertained  for  her  safety,  but  she  seemed 
wholly  devoid  of  personal  fear.  The  idea  of  being  cap- 
tured by  slave-hunters  or  slave-holders,  seemed  never  to 
enter  her  mind.  She  was  apparently  proof  against  all 
adversaries.  While  she  thus  manifested  such  utter  per- 
sonal indifference,  she  was  much  more  watchful  with  regard 
to  those  she  was  piloting.  Half  of  her  time,  she  had  the 
appearance  of  one  asleep,  and  would  actually  sit  down  by 
the  road  side  and  go  fast  asleep,  when  on  her  errands  of 
mercy  through  the  South,  yet,  she  would  not  suffer  one  of 
her  party  to  whimper  once,  about  "giving  out  or  going 
back,"  however  wearied  they  might  be  from  hard  travel 
day  and  night.  She  had  a  very  short  and  pointed  rule  of 
law  of  her  own,  which  implied  death  to  any  who  talked  of 
giving  out  and  going  back.  Thus,  in  an  emergency  she 
would  give  all  to  understand  that  "times  were  very  critical 
and  therefore  no  foolishness  would  be  indulged  in  on  the 
road."  That  several  who  were  rather  week-kneed  and  faint- 
hearted were  greatly  invigorated  by  Harriet's  blunt  and 
positive  manner  and  threat  of  extreme  measures,  there 
could  be  no  doubt.  After  having  once  enlisted,  "they  had 
to  go  through  or  die."  Of  course  Harriet  was  supreme, 
and  her  followers  generally  had  full  faith  in  her,  and 
would  back  up  any  word  she  might  utter.  So  when  she 
said  to  them  that  "a  live  runaway  could  do  great  harm  by 
going  back,  but  that  a  dead  one  could  tell  no  secrets/'  she 
was  sure  to  have  obedience.  Her  like  it  is  probable  was 
never  known  before  or  since." 


106  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

Harriet  Tubman's  last  trip  into  Maryland  is  graphical- 
ly given  in  Mr.  Still's  "Underground  Railroad."  It  was  in 
the  year  1860,  and  she  led  five  passengers,  of  Dorchester 
county,  out  of  bondage  into  freedom ;  a  man,  his  wife,  and 
three  children,  one  of  the  children  being  a  babe  in  the 
arms  of  her  mother.  The  following  note  from  the  great 
Thomas  Garrett,  whose  name  was  enrolled  in  the  Lamb's 
Book  of  Life,  long  ago,  will  throw  light  upon  these  last 
arrivals.    Mr.  Garrett  says: 

"I  write  to  let  thee  know  that  Harriet  Tubman  is 
again  in  these  parts.  She  arrived  last  evening  from  one 
of  her  trips  of  mercy  to  God's  poor,  bringing  two  men  with 
her  as  far  as  New  Castle.  I  agreed  to  pay  a  man  last  even- 
ing to  pilot  them  on  their  way  to  Chester  county;  the  wife 
of  one  of  the  men,  with  two  or  three  children,  was  left  some 
thirty  miles  below,  and  I  gave  Harriet  ten  dollars,  to  hire 
a  man  with  a  carriage,  to  take  them  to  Chester  county. 
She  said  a  man  had  offered  for  that  sum  to  bring  them  on. 
I  shall  be  very  uneasy  about  them  till  I  hear  they  are  safe. 
There  is  now  much  more  risk  on  the  road,  till  they  arrive 
here,  than  there  has  been  for  several  months  past,  as  we  find 
that  some  poor,  worthless  wretches  are  constantly  on  the 
look  out  on  two  roads,  that  they  can  not  well  avoid,  more 
especially  with  carriage,  yet,  as  it  is  Harriet  who  seems  to 
have  had  a  special  angel  to  guard  her  on  her  journey  of 
mercy,  I  have  hope.  Thy  Friend,  THOMAS  GAEEETT, 
Wilmington,  Del."' 

These  slaves  from  Maryland,  were  the  last  that  Harriet 
Tubman  piloted  out  of  the  prison-house  of  bondage,  and 
these  "came  through  great  tribulation." 

Stephen,  the  husband,  had  been  a  slave  of  John  Kaiger, 
who  would  not  allow  him  to  live  with  his  wife.  She  lived 
eight  miles  distant,  hired  her  time,  maintained  herself,  and 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  107 

took  care  of  her  little  children  (until  they  became  of 
service  to  their  owner)  and  paid  ten  dollars  a  year  for  her 
hire.  She  was  owned  by  Algier  Pearcy.  Both  mother 
and  father  desired  to  deliver* their  children  from  his  grasp. 
They  had  too  much  intelligence  to  bear  the  heavy  burdens 
thus  imposed  without  feeling  the  pressure  a  grevious  one. 

Harriet  Tubman  being  well  acquainted  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  knowing  of  their  situation,  and  having  confi- 
dence that  they  would  prove  true,  as  passengers  on  the 
Underground  Railroad,  engaged  to  pilot  them  within  reach 
of  Wilmington,  at  least  to  Thomas  Garrett's.  Thus  the 
father  and  mother,  with  their  children,  and  a  young  man 
named  John,  found  aid  and  comfort  on  their  way  with 
Harriet  for  their  "Moses."  A  poor  woman  escaping  from 
Baltimore  in  a  delicate  state,  happened  to  meet  Harriett's 
party  at  the  station  and  was  forwarded  on  with  them.  They 
were  cheered  with  clothing,  food  and  material  aid,  and 
sped  on  to  Canada, 

This  great  "Moses,"  Mrs.  Tubman  Davis,  after  the 
Civil  War,  made  Auburn,  1ST.  Y.,  her  home,  and  established 
there  a  home  for  aged  colored  people.  She  entered  into 
rest  eternal  on  the  tenth  of  March,  1913.  On  Friday,  June 
12th,  1911,  at  the  Auditorium,  in  Auburn,  was  unveiled 
a  tablet  in  honor  of  this  great  and  good  woman.  It  was 
provided  by  the  Cayuga  County  Historical  Society,  and 
Dr.  Booker  T.  Washington  was  the  chief  speaker  on  the 
occasion.  The  ceremonies  were  attended  by  great  crowds, 
both  colored  and  white  citizens,  to  do  honor  to  the  memory 
of  such  a  unique  and  interesting  character. 


108  MEN    OE    MARYLAND. 


THOMAS  M.  D.  WARD. 

Thomas  M.  D.  Ward,  the  10th  Bishop  of  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  was  born  "just  over  the  line," 
in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  His  parents  were  Mary- 
landers,  and  had  crossed  over  only  a  few  months  before 
the  infant  Thomas  was  born.  His  birth  was  in  1823.  At 
a  very  early  age  he  removed  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
where  he  connected  himself  with  the  A.  M.  E.  Church. 
Being  ordained  to  the  ministry,  he  was  sent  out  as  a  Mis- 
sionary on  the  Pacific  Coast,  where  he  labored  with  good 
success.  In  1868,  he  was  made  a  Bishop,  and  took  up 
his  work  in  the  same  section  of  the  country  where  he  had 
so  successfully  labored  as  pastor.  He  was  generally,  and 
favorably,  known  as  one  of  the  greatest  orators  of  his  day. 
Not  only  was  he  truly  eloquent,  but  was  richly  endowed 
with  a  poetic  nature.  The  poem  given  below  was  written 
by  him,  sometime  in  the  fifties,  long  before  he  became  a 
Bishop. 


MEN    OE    MARYLAND.  109 


The   Heroic   Christian  Warrior. 

My  soul,  the  conflict  grows  severe, 
The  troops  of  hell  are  drawing  near — 
But  the  strong  guard  that  for  the  fight 
Will  guide  thee  to  the  worlds  of  light. 

Gird  on  thy  arms,  march  to  the  field, 

With  glittering  blade  and  burnished  shield; 

High  floats  the  spotless  flag  of  truth, 
Upborne  by  hands  that  never  droop. 

The  battle  trump  sounds  long  and  loud, 
Bidding  each  warrior  grasp  his  sword; 
Jehovah's  great  Eternal  Son 
Will  lead  the  fearless  army  on. 

Methinks  I  hear  the  glorious  shout — ■ 
The  victory's  won,  the  battle's  fought, 
Emmanuel's  troops  have  won  the  day — 
His  foes  have  fled  in  wild  dismay. 


110  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

No  more  the  clarion  sound  we  hear 
Thrilling  each  heart  with  hope  and  fear ; 
The  warrior  wears  the  victor's  palm 
High  in  the  bright  and  better  land. 

There  is  the  realms  of  endless  dav 
AVhere  stirring  zephyrs  softly  play, 
We'll  stand  amid  the  spotless  throng 
And  chant  Kedemption's  gladsome  song. 

Cease  not  the  strife,  my  blood-bought  soul; 
Press  onward  to  the  blissful  goal — 
Broad  streams  of  everlasting  light 
Will  burst  upon  thy  ravish'd  sight. 


MEN"    OF   MARYLAND.  Ill 


ALEXANDER  W.  WAYMAN. 

Alexander  W.  Wayman,  the  7th  Bishop  of  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  was  born  in  Caroline  county. 
Maryland,  during  the  month  of  September,  1821.  He  was 
brought  up  upon  a  farm,  and  for  a  long  while  followed 
agricultural  life.  Like  a  number  of  prominent  colored  men 
of  his  class,  he  educated  himself.  In  1840  he  united  with 
the  A.  M.  E.  Church,  and,  three  years  later,  was  admitted 
to  the  ministry  of  that  Church.  After  pastoring  congre- 
gations in  Philadelphia,  Baltimore  and  Washington,  he 
was  finally  made  a  Bishop.  He  had  his  residence  in  the 
city  of  Baltimore  for  quite  a  number  of  years,  and  it  was 
in  Baltimore  that  he  entered  into  eternal  rest.  He  was 
a  man  of  very  great  character,  earnest  and  powerful  as  a 
preacher,  and  was  universally  beloved  by  both  white  and 
colored  people,  in  all  walks  of  life.  He  died  in  Baltimore 
on  November  30th,  1895. 

In  Bishop  Handy's  "Scraps"  of  history,  the  following 
address  uttered  by  Bishop  Wayman,  appears : 

"In  some  of  our  Conferences,  we  had  often  been  dis- 
cussing the  propriety  of  sending  missionaries  to  Haiti  and 
Africa.  I  said  never  would  I  consent  to  go,  or  assist  in 
sending  any  one  there,  until  I  could  go  all  over  the  South 
to  see  my  brethren.  I  had  for  some  years  selected  the  text 
to  preach  from  when  I  went  there,  1  seek  my  brethren/ 
Gen.  xxxvii,  16." 

In  the  autumn  of  1863  I  received  information  that  the 


112  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

colored  people,  members  of  the  Bute  St.  M.  E.  Church 
South,  in  Norfolk,  Va.,  were  left  as  sheep  without  a 
shepherd,  and  they  desired  to  unite  with  the  Baltimore 
Conference  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church  if  I  would  come  down 
and  see  them.  I  said,  "Here  is  an  opportunity  to  preach 
my  text,  I  seek  my  brethren."  I  went  to  the  provost 
Marshal  for  a  "pass"  to  Norfolk.  He  said  Military  affairs 
never  interfered  with  religious  affairs,  and  therefore  I 
would  have  to  write  to  Norfolk  for  what  I  wanted.  I  told 
him  that  the  Military  had  us  hemmed  in  on  every  side; 
we  could  not  go  or  come  without  their  permission.  He 
finally  said  to  his  clerk:  "Give  this  man  a  pass  to  Nor- 
folk, Va." 

Saturday  afternoon  came.  I  was  off  to  old  Virginia. 
The  night  was  very  pleasant,  indeed,  and  I  was  treated 
very  kindly  indeed,  by  the  steward  and  waiters;  for  some 
of  them  were  members  of  our  church.  Brother  Peter 
Shepherd,  now  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Conference,  met 
me  at  the  boat,  and  took  me  to  the  Church  to  see  Sunday 
School  in  operation.  In  the  afternoon,  Rev.  Mr.  Greely, 
who  had  been  temporarily  serving  them,  administered  the 
Lord's  Supper.  At  night  I  was  permitted  to  take  my 
text:  "I  seek  my  brethren."  They  announced  preaching 
for  Monday  afternoon,  and  a  meeting  of  all  the  official 
members  for  Monday  night.  Monday  afternoon  I  ad- 
dressed the  congregation  from  the  text :  "We  are  jounc- 
ing to  the  place  of  which  the  Lord  said  I  will  give  it  thee ; 
come  thou  with  us  and  we  will  do  thee  good."  Num.  x.  29. 
At  night  the  Board  met.  I  had  prepared  an  instrument 
in  writing  for  them  to  sign  if  they  agreed  to  unite  with 
us.  After  it  was  read,  one  man  said,  "I  move  we  adopt  it," 
and  while  they  were  discussing,  another  brother  said,  "Let 
us  vote,  for  I  am  all  on  fire  for  it."    The  vote  was  taken, 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  113 

and  carried  unanimously.  I  spoke  again  on  Wednesday 
night,  text :  "We  will  go  with  you,  for  we  have  heard  that 
God  is  with  you."  Zaeh.  yiii.  23.  The  secretary  read  to 
the  congregation  what  the  Official  Board  had  done,  and 
they  took  a  vote  and  indorsed  it.  I  returned  to  Baltimore 
rejoicing  that  I  had  preached  my  text  in  old  Virginia,  "I 
seek  my  brethren,"  and  had  taken  a  church  of  eight  hun- 
dred members,  and  the  following  named  ministers :  R. 
IT.  Parker,  James  Tynes,  Peter  Shepherd,  Americus  Wood- 
house  and  Amos  Wilson. 


n 


114  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

SAMUEL  RINGGOLD  WARD. 

Samuel  Binggold  Ward  was  born  in  the  State  of  Mary- 
land about  the  year  1817.  His  parents  tied  from  slavery 
to  New  York,  carrying  Samuel,  in  his  infancy.  His  early 
education  was  received  in  connection  with  the  African  Free 
School,  of  that  city,  which  was  then  taught  by  a  gentle- 
man of  Scotch  descent,  Mr.  C.  C.  Andrew.  General 
Lafayette,  on  September  10,  1824,  paid  this  school  a  visit, 
and  placing  his  hands  on  the  heads  of  all  the  boys  present, 
gave  them  a  hearty  "God  Bless  You."  Ward  took  early  to 
public  speaking,  and  very  soon  became  a  lecturer  of  the 
anti-Slaverv  cause.  In  fact,  so  eminent  had  he  become  bv 
reason  of  his  oratorical  powers,  that  for  two  years  he  was 
pastor  of  the  White  Congregational  Church  of  South  But- 
ler, Wayne  county,  New  York.  He  was  quite  heavily 
built,  six  feet  tall,  of  the  blackest  skin,  so  black  that  as 
Wendell  Phillips  observed,  "when  he  shut  his  eyes  you 
could  not  see  him."  He  gave  up  the  pastorate  of  the  white 
congregation  because  of  the  increase  of  his  lecturing  work. 
For  awhile  he  was  a  joint  editor  of  the  "True  American,'' 
published  at  Cortland,  N.  Y.  A  little  later,  he  established 
and  published  the  "Impartial  Citizen,"  at  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
Luring  that  most  exciting  period,  following  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  "Fugitive  Slave  Act,"  upon  his  return  to 
Syracuse,  from  lecturing  tours,  great  excitement  prevailed 
with  respect  to  the  efforts  of  slave  captors  in  securing  a 
certain  fugitive  confined  in  the  jail,  and  returning  him  to 
slavery.  Ward  was  with  those  who  stormed  the  jail, 
secured  the  fugitive,  and  rushed  him  to  Canada.  Several 
of  the  leaders  were  arrested,  including  Gerritt  Smith,  and 
it  was  thought  advisable  for  Ward  himself  to  flee  into 
Canada.  He  went  to  Canada,  expecting  to  return  shortly, 
after  the  commotion  had  subsided.    But  he  remained  there 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  115 

for  two  years,  and  interested  himself  in  the  improvement 
of  the  condition  of  his  people  there.  After  two  years 
residence  he  took  the  claims  of  his  people,  and  made  a  trip 
to  England,  where  he  placed  them  before  the  assembled 
benevolences  of  that  country  at  the  May  anniversaries  of 
1853.  He  remained  there  for  two  years,  lecturing  and 
preaching,  where  he  achieved  both  fame  and  fortune.  The 
noted  British  clergyman,  Dr.  John  Campbell,  wrote  in  the 
British  "Banner :"  "Mr.  Ward,  since  his  arrival  in  Eng- 
land has  been  most  severely  tested — tested  beyond  every 
other  man  of  color  that  ever  came  to  these  shores.  He  has 
been  called  to  speak  in  all  sorts  of  meetings,  upon  all  sorts 
of  subjects,  under  every  variety  of  circumstances,  side  by 
side  with  the  first  men  of  the  time,  and  in  no  case  has  he 
failed  to  acquit  himself  with  honor.  With  intellectual 
power  and  rhetorical  ability  of  a  very  high  order,  he  has 
not  merely  sustained  the  first  impressions  he  produced,  but 
materially  added  to  them." 

While  in  England  he  put  forth,  in  book  form,  "The 
Autobiography  of  a  Fugitive  Negro,"  which  embraced  not 
only  the  facts  about  his  own  life,  but  an  exact  statement 
of  the  slave  question  in  America.  It  was  among  the  very 
ablest  expositions  of  the  relation  of  the  races  in  this  coun- 
try. Towards  the  end  of  his  most  pleasing  stay  in  Eng- 
land, an  admiring  friend  gave  him  a  farm  situated  in  the 
Island  of  Jamaica,  and  to  this  he  went  upon  leaving  Great 
Britain.  He  resided  in  Kingston  where  he  pastored  a 
church,  with  great  success,  for  several  years.  He  died 
there  in  1867,  without  ever  having  returned  to  America. 
Fitting,  in  this  connection,  it  is  to  quote  from  one  of  his 
speeches  in  his  earlier  life,  in  America.  He  said :  "It  is 
among  the  most  pleasing  of  one's  anticipations  of  the 
happiness  of  the  future  state  that  eternity  will  be  enjoyed 


1  1C  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

in  such  excellent  association.  For  is  it  not  an  earnest  of 
God's  favor  to  the  anti-slavery  canse  that  he  calls  into  labor 
and  sacrifice  gifts  so  sound,  talent  so  exalted,  intellects  so 
cultivated,  piety  so  Christ  like?" 

Reverting  hack  to  earlier  scenes.  When  the  Liberty  Party 
National  Convention  was  in  session,  which  nominated 
James  Birney,  of  Buffalo,  for  the  Presidency,  in  1843, 
Ward  was  one  of  the  leaders  in  that  convention.  Editor 
Torrey  of  the  Albany  Weekly  "Patriot,"  himself  an  early 
martyr  to  the  slave's  canse,  gives  the  following  description 
of  Ward  in  action : 

"And  here  comes  Ward — Samuel  R.  Ward — the  young 
(he  is  only  26)  reasoning  political  giant.  My  calm  judg- 
ment is  that  he  possesses  the  most  commanding  intellect 
among  the  people  of  color  in  the  United  States.  Few  men 
of  any  color  or  clime  can  compare  with  him.  He  is  now 
vindicating  the  supremacy  of  the  law  of  God  over  all  human 
laws,  with  the  clearness  of  allusion  and  figure  that  mark 
the  great  educated  intellect.  Yet  he  speaks  now  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment,  on  a  resolve  he  never  saw  or  heard 
till  an  hour  since.  His  voice  is  very  powerful — its  clear 
ringing  sounds  fills  the  great  tent,  holds  the  audience  rapt 
and  echoes  around  the  squares.  The  resolve  which  was 
offered  by  Rev.  John  Pierpont,  grandfather  of  J.  Pier- 
pont  Morgan,  was  against  the  moral  right  of  others  to  aid 
in  returning  escaped  slaves  to  their  claimants.  In  fact,  this 
is  the  same  black  orator  whose  mere  presence  at  the  Free 
Soil  Convention  almost  drove  the  barnburners,  the  orig- 
inators of  the  Free  Soil  Convention  crazv;  and  vet  whose 
eloquence  during  its  sessions  so  electrified  the  crowd  thai 
they  broke  down  the  platform  in  crowding  around  to  hear 
him." 

There  were  two  wings  of  the  "Abolitionists,"  the  Gar- 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  117 

risonians  and  the  Smithsonians,  the  voters  and  the  non- 
voters;  Garrison  was  the  natural  leader  of  one  wing  that 
believed  that  the  Constitution  was  for  Slavery.  Frederick 
Douglass  Avas  attached  to  this  wing.  The  Smithsonians, 
headed  by  Gerritt  Smith,  believed  that  the  Constitution, 
rightly  interpreted ,  was  against  Slavery.  With  this  wing 
Samuel  E.  Ward  was  identified.  A  memorable  debate  took 
place  between  Douglass  and  Ward  with  respect  to  this  mat- 
ter. Ward  submitted  the  challenge  through  his  paper, 
"The  Impartial  Citizen/  which  was  'to  take  place  at  any 
county  seat  in  the  State  of  New  York  at  such  time  as  you 
may  name.'  The  debate  took  place  in  Minerva  Hall,  New 
York  City,  on  Friday,  May  18,  1849.  It  was  a  never-to-be- 
forgotten  occasion.  All  of  the  leading  citizens,  white  and 
colored,  were  present,  and  while  it  began  in  the  afternoon, 
it  lasted  well  on  to  mid-night.  Just  a  few  sentences  of  the 
dialogue  between  these  two  great  giants,  both  born  on  the 
soil  of  Maryland,  will  give  a  faint  idea  of  this  memorable 
occasion : 

"  'Mr.  Ward :  My  view  is  that  the  Constitution  does  not 
require  the  federal  government  to  do  aught  for  slavery. 
There  has  been  more  legislation  for  slavery  than  for  all 
other  interests;  agriculture,  education,  everything  else.  If 
the  Constitution  did  not  make  every  man's  house  his 
'castle/  I  would  say,  'Make  a  bonfire  of  the  Constitution.' 
The  substitute  tells  you  the  Constitution  ought  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  legal  rules  of  interpretation,  and  when  so  sub- 
jected is  found  to  be  against  slavery.  We  take  the  Consti- 
tution in  its  plain,  common-sense,  obvious  meaning.  Now 
almost  the  words  of  the  Declaration  are  enacted  in  the 
Constitution — to  be  found  in  the  fifth  amendment.  'Truth' 
in  the  Declaration  and  'Good'  in  the  Constitution  are  one. 
As  to  the  law  of  1793,  the  very  terms  of  the  Constitution 


118  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

are  hostile  to  the  idea  of  slavery.  No  ^service  or  labor' 
can  be  'due'  from  a  slave.  The  plain  language  of  the  Con- 
stitution is  against  slavery.  Wheaton  III,  page  5,  in  a 
decision  of  the  supreme  court,  tells  you  that  the  meaning 
of  the  Constitution  is  to  be  found  in  its  letter.' 

"Mr.  Ward  referred  to  Judge  Harrington  of  Vermont, 
who  told  the  claimant  of  a  slave  that  he  must  bring  a  bill 
of  sale  from  Almighty  God  before  he  could  substantiate  his 
title.    Ward,  continuing : 

"  'Our  friends  say,  take  the  broad  and  open  ground  to 
the  dissolution  of  the  Union.  Then  they  will  respect  you. 
Well,  may  be  it  will  do  good.  But  I  have  not  heard  that 
our  friends  have  yet  had  much  effect  upon  the  South ;  that 
they  have  frightened  the  chivalry  very  much.  We  are 
asked  what  should  be  done  while  we  are  securing  a  proper 
interpretation  of  the  Constitution?  But  I  ask  them  how 
they  will  dissolve  the  Union?  And  I  wait  their  pleasure 
for  a  reply.  They  infer  that  the  Constitution  is  so  and 
so — is  so  pro-slaveiw — because  Washington  and  other  slave- 
holders made  it.  The  only  question  is,  What  sort  of  a 
Constitution  did  they  frame?  What  does  it  say?  What 
are  its  terms?  Not  a  word  has  been  brought  forward 
here  to  show  that  the  Constitution  authorizes  the  recovery 
of  fugitives.  It  is  all  about  the  character  of  those  who 
made  the  Constitution.' 

"Mr.  Douglass  wished  to  know  if  the  executive  council 
called  the  society  together,  and  a  large  majority  abandoned 
their  principles  if  it  was  not  the  society  who  abandoned 
principles 

"Mr.  Ward :  No,  sir.  Those  who  remain  true  to  prin-_ 
ciple  are  the  society,  be  they  few  or  be  they  many.  It  is 
principle,  not  numbers  or  the  action  of  numbers,  which  is 
the  test. 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  119 


"] 


(Mr.  Douglass:     But  you  have  added  on  19  principles. 

fMr.  Ward :  And  so  have  I  added  on  19  pounds  of  flesh 
since  I  was  sick;  but  I  am  Sam  Ward  still.  Our  position 
is,  Are  you  true  to  the  slave  ?  That  is  our  test.  Judge  Jay 
going  for  Whigs  does  not  compromise  us." 

One  of  the  most  exciting  meetings  held  by  the  anti- 
slavery  cause  was  in  the  Broadway  Tabernacle,  Broadway 
and  Worth  Street,  New  York,  in  1850.  A  number  of 
rioters,  under  the  leadership  of  one  Isaiah  Eynders,  a 
political  healer  of  Tammany,  had  assembled  and  inter- 
ferred  with  the  progress  of  the  meeting.  A  Dr.  Grant,  a 
member  of  that  band  had  gotten  the  floor  and  had  delivered 
a  speech  denying  the  humanity  of  the  Negro.  Douglass 
followed  him,  and  in  closing,  called  Ward  to  the  platform. 
As  Ward  approached,  Eynders  himself,  standing  near,  said : 

"Well  this  is  the  original  nigger,"  while  others  of  his 
rowdies  groaned  and  jeered.  But  Ward  was  soon  master 
of  the  situation.  Yery  soon  the  utmost  silence  and  atten- 
tion prevailed.     He  said: 

"My  friends,  hear  me  for  my  cause  and  be  silent  that 
you  may  hear  me.  I,  too,  have  read  medicine,  and  studied 
dead  men's  bones,  as  well  as  Dr.  Grant.  I  have  often  heard 
of  the  magnanimity  of  Captain  .Rynders  but  the  half  has 
never  been  told  me.  I  agree  with  Frederick  Douglass;  it 
makes  no  odds  if  the  chin  protrudes  or  the  forehead  retires. 
I  don't  come  here  to  find  fault  with  Capt.  Eynders,  but  he  is 
a  Democrat,  a  friend  of  Jefferson,  who  wrote  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  and  says  that  every  man  is  born 
free  and  equal  and  has  the  inalienable  right  to  life,  liberty 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  All  I  ask  of  Americans  is 
that  they  should  .stick  to  that,  to  their  own  doctrine.  As 
to  the  learned  theory  that  we  have  heard,  I  think  Dr. 


120  MEN    01'    MARYLAND. 

Grant  once  discussed  his  doctrine  with  one  John  Smith.  I 
made  up  my  opinion  at %  the  time  about  both  speakers. 
Euclid  was  a  black  man,  had  the  eliptical  head,  the  pro- 
truding jaw,  and  if  he  was  not  a  man,  then  there  are  no 
men,  white  or  black.  I  might  quote  Mr.  Alexander  Everett, 
who  says  we  derived  our  knowledge  from  the  Eomans,  they 
from  the  Greeks,  they  from  the  Jews,  and,  lastly  they 
from  the  Egyptians.  Now,  the  Egyptians  were  blacks. 
Herodotus,  the  father  of  history,  says  so,  and  he  could  not 
lie.    He  knew  black  from  white. 

"I  am  but  a  poor  specimen  of  a  Negro;  there  are  more 
than  fifty  people  here  who  may  remember  me  as  a  little 
boy  running  about  the  streets  of  New  York  fifteen  years 
ago.  I  have  often  been  called  a  nigger,  and  some  have  tried 
to  make  me  believe  it;  and  the  only  consolation  that  has 
been  offered  me  for  being  called  nigger  was  that  when  I  die 
and  go  to  heaven,  I  shall  be  white.  But,  if  I  can  not  go  to 
lieaven  as  black  as  God  made  me,  let  me  go  down  to  hell 
and  dwell  with  the  Devil  forever.  The  gentleman  who 
denies  our  humanity  has  examined  us  scientifically ;  but  I 
know  something  of  anatomy.  I  kept  school  in  New  York 
and  New  Jersey  and  had  among  my  scholars  from  the 
unmitigated  jet  black  down  to  the  nicest  dissolving  hue; 
and  I  have  found  white  men  as  niggerish  as  black  men ;  and 
have  seen  white  boys  with  retreating  foreheads  and  project- 
ing jaws,  heads  that  if  you  knocked  here  (tapping  his  own 
forehead)  all  day — as  a  writer  says — you  would  find  no- 
body at  home. 

"One  word  about  natural  instincts,  because  the  'Herald' 
speaks  of  spirits  black,  white  and  gray,  as  if  he  saw  them. 
I  never  pretended  to  see  or  speak  of  them  if  they  are  con- 
trary to  instinct;  but  have  you  a  Bible  here?  In  Acts 
xiii:l,  you  will  find  whites  and  blacks  in  close  propinquit}'. 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  121 

There  was  a  number  of  prophets  in  the  church  at  Antioch, 
and  one  of  them  was  Simeon,  who  was  called  Niger — that 
is  the  Latin  word  for  a  black  man.  If  that  which  they  have 
told  us  is  instinct,  be  instinct,  tell  me  why  such  an  instinct 
is  only  known  in  America?  It  is  an  instinct  of  American 
origin,  a  Yankee  invention  •  something  like  primeval  hams, 
and  wooden  nutmegs.  I  am  going  to  speak  this  evening  to 
colored  people  on  their  rights  and  duties ;  and  if  they  don't 
behave  better  than  some  white  men,  why  it  will  be  time 
for  me  to  give  up  my  argument." 

An  eminent  and  prominent  witness  observes,  with  re- 
spect to  this  most  eloquent  and  cutting  effort  of  Ward,  "he 
went  on  with  a  noble  voice ;  his  speech  was  such  a  strain  of 
unpremeditated  eloquence  as  I  never  heard  excelled  before 
or  since.    His  every  look  and  gesture  was  eloquence." 

In  after  years,  in  making  a  comparison,  Frederick 
Douglass  says  of  Samuel  Ringgold  Ward :  "I  have  known 
but  one  other  black  man  to  be  compared  with  (Robert 
Brown)  Elliott,  and  that  was  Samuel  R.  Ward,  who  like 
Elliott,  died  in  the  midst  of  his  years." 

The  late  Rev.  Dr.  Crummell,  in  his  eulogy  of  his  friend, 
Dr.  Garnett,  also  mentions  the  name  of  Ward  in  making  a 
comparison.    He  says : 

"Foremost  among  these  were  four  men  who  have  at- 
tained celebrity,  and  whose  names  can  not  die  in  the  re- 
membrance of  the  black  race  in  this  country,  nor  in  the 
annals  of  the  republic.  There  was  the  fiery  and  impulsive 
Remond,  as  true  and  gallant  a  knight  as  ever,  with  un- 
sheathed sword,  rushed  into  the  thickest  of  a  battle  fray, 
and  did  right  noble  service.  There  was  our  celebrated 
neighbor,  then  a  youthful  recruit,  but  now  'the  old  man 
eloquent,'  of  Anacostia,  who  some  of  our  young  graduates 


122  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

seem  to  think  a  mere  bagatelle,  but  of  whom  a  scholar  and 
divine  of  1113^  own  Church,  told  me  the  other  day  that  he 
was  the  only  man  in  America  who  reminded  him,  in  his 
eloquence,  of  the  great  Prime  Minister  of  England,  William 
Ewart  Gladstone.  There  was  Samuel  E.  Ward,  that  mighty 
master  of  speech,  that  giant  of  intellect,  called  in  his  day, 
'the  ablest  thinker  on  his  legs,'  whom  Charles  T.  Torry 
declared  was  only  second  in  his  clay  to  Daniel  Webster  in 
logical  power.  And  last,  but  by  no  means  least,  was 
Henry  Highland  Garnett.  More  restrained  and  less  fiery 
and  monotonous  than  Bemond;  not  so  ponderous  as  Doug- 
lass; inferior  in  cast-iron  logic  to  Ward;  there  was  a  sali- 
ence, a  variety,  an  intellectual  incidity,  and  above  all  a 
brilliancy  and  glowing  fire  in  our  friend's  eloquence  which 
gave  him  his  special  and  peculiar  place.  He  united  the 
sparkling  keenness  of  Tristam  Burgess  to  the  glow  and 
exuberance  of  Henrv  Clav." 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  123 


HARRISON  HOLMES  WEBB. 

Harrison  Holmes  "Webb,  an  adopted  son  of  Maryland, 
born  in  Pennsylvania,  is  worthy  of  special  mention  in  con- 
nection with  the  "Men  of  Maryland."  He  seems  to  have 
made  his  advent  into  Maryland,  either  late  in  the  thirties, 
or  early  in  the  forties.  He  was  a  man  of  education,  and  in 
the  diligent  use  of  what  he  had,  attained  a  distinguished 
standing  among  the  men  of  his  day.  In  1843,  he  was  con- 
firmed in  St.  James  First  African  Church,  and  soon  there- 
after, licensed  as  a  Lay  Eeader.  He  became  a  lay  assist- 
ant to  the  Rev.  Mr.  McJilton  (white),  rector  of  the  Church 
and  teacher  of  the  day  school.  In  1846,  with  others,  he  took 
the  chief  part  in  founding  St.  James  Male  Beneficial  So- 
ciety. Many  of  the  older  Marylanders,  still  alive,  received 
their  education  in  his  school.  In  1854,  he  was  ordained 
by  Bishop  Whittingham  to  the  ministry  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  A  few  years  later,  he  was  advanced  to  the  Priest- 
hood in  the  same  church,  and,  upon  the  retirement  of  the 
rector,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Webb,  was  elected  his  successor.  Mr. 
Webb  continued  his  school  as  well  as  the  rectorship  of  St. 
James'  Church,  until  1872,  when,  on  account  of  increas- 
ing infirmities  he  resigned.  For  a  number  of  years,  fol- 
lowing the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  he  was  one  of  the  execu- 
tive officers  of  the  local  Freedman's  Bank. 

A  few  years  before  his  resignation  of  the  rectorship  of 
St.  James'  Church,  some  forty  of  the  younger  people  con- 
nected with  that  Congregation,  withdrew  and  organized  a 


124  MEN    OF    MARYLAND. 

mission,  in  the  newer  section  of  the  city,  known  as  St. 
Philip's.  This  Mission  finally  became  the  nucleus  of  the 
present  Mt.  Calvary  Chapel  of  St.  Mary  the  Virgin.  Liv- 
ing in  the  section  of  the  city  where  the  Mission  was  lo- 
cated, he  often  attendee],  and,  sometimes,  officiated.  Mrs. 
Webb,  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Webb,  was  greatly  beloved 
by  a  member  of  a  white  family  with  whom  she  had  lived. 
And  because  of  this  influence  the  mission  through  the 
generosity  of  Mrs.  Webb's  former  mistress,  became  pos- 
sessed with  the  money  to  erect  its  beautiful  church  on 
Orchard  Street.  The  memory  of  this  sweet  influence  is 
perpetuated  in  the  interior  of  the  beautiful  chapel  of  St. 
Mary  the  Virgin.  The  three  marble  steps  leading  up  to 
the  Altar,  are  inscribed  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  in  memory 
of  Rebecca  Webb;  while,  one  of  the  two  imposing  granite 
columns,  supporting  the  Sanctuary  arch,  is  likewise  in- 
scribed, to  the  glory  of  God,  and  in  memory  of  Harrison  H. 
Webb,  Priest. 

Writing  of  his  decease,  Bishop  Whittingham  said : 
"Deprived  of  advantages  of  a  liberal  education  in  his 
youth,  he  had  laboriously  qualified  himself  in  riper  years, 
for  admission  to  the  holy  ministry,  which  he  received  and 
exercised,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  months  service  in 
Pennsylvania,  for  more  than  twenty  years  in  St.  James' 
African  Church  in  this  city.  He  was  never  at  any  period 
of  his  ministry  independent  of  his  own  labor  in  a  secular 
calling  for  support,  but  faithfully  and  patiently  strove,  in 
spite  of  many  difficulties  and  hindrances,  to  fulfill  his 
ministry  in  which  to  the  very  last  he  took  supreme  delight. 
This  testimony  I  deem  to  be  justly  due  to  one  whose  name 
ought  to  be  honored  as  that  of  a  steadfast  servant  of  our 
Blessed  Master  for  the  work  sake  only." 

He  departed  this  life,  in  Baltimore,  on  the  12th  of  De- 
cember, 1878. 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  125 


LEWIS  G.  WELLS,  M.  D. 

In  Bishop  Handy's  u Scraps  of  African  Methodist  His- 
tory/7 mention  is  made  of  Dr.  Lewis  G.  Wells.     He  was 
born  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  and  it  is  said  that  he  studied 
medicine  at  one  of  the  Medical  colleges  of  this  city.    In  all 
probability,  such  studies  were  carried  on  while  serving  in 
some  capacity  as  an  employee  of  the  institution.    It  is  also 
maintained  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  skillful  physicians 
of  his  day.    Bishop  Handy  says:    "During  the  rage  of  the 
cholera  in  1832,  he  could  be  seen  riding  up  one  street  and 
down  another,  administering  to  the  sick  and  dying.     He 
had  a  presentiment  that  he  would  die  with  that  disease,  and 
sure  enough  he  was  overtaken  by  it,  and  finally  died.     No 
man  was  more  respected  than  Dr.  Wells;  as  an  evidence  of 
it,  in  nearly  all  of  the  older  families,  his  picture  may  be 
seen  hanging  against  the  walls,  with  here  and  there   a 
photograph  of  a  son  bearing  the  name  of  this  eminent  man 
— Dr.  Lewis  G.  Wells." 


126  MEN    OY    MARYLAND. 


A  WORD  OF  ENCOURAGEMENT. 

The  race  has  had  much  advice.  We  are  loth  to  add  to 
the  same.  And,  yet,  we  dare  assert  that  the  solution  of 
the  so-called  race  problem  is  not  conditioned  upon  any  one 
thing,  but  rather  upon  the  wise  use  of  all  the  elements  of 
strength  which  have  energised  the  advance  and  prosperity 
of  all  other  races  and  peoples.  As  a  word  of  encourage- 
ment, we  give  two  extracts,  one  each,  from  the  writings 
of  two  of  the  purest  and  ablest  men  this  race  of  ours  has 
yet  produced. 

The  learned  late  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  Crummell,  in  writ- 
ing of  the  "Destined  Superiority  of  the  Negro,"  uses  these 
stimulating  and  most  helpful  words : 

"You  need  not  entertain  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  that  the 
work  which  God  hath  begun  and  is  now  carrying  on,  is 
for  the  elevation  and  success  of  the  Negro.  This  is  the 
significance  and  the  worth  of  all  effort  and  all  achievement, 
of  every  signal  providence,  in  this  cause;  or,  otherwise  all 
the  labors  of  men  and  all  the  mightiness  of  God  is  vanity. 
Nothing,  believe  me,  on  earth;  nothing  brought  from  per- 
dition, can  keep  back  this  destined  advance  of  the  Negro 
race.  No  conspiracies  of  men  nor  of  devils.  The  slave 
trade  could  not  crush  them  out.  Slavery,  dread,  direful, 
and  milignant,  could  only  stay  it  for  a  time.  But  now  it  is 
coming,  coming,  I  grant  through  dark  and  trying  events, 
but  surely  coming. 


MEN    OF    MARYLAND.  127 

The  Negro — black,  curly  headed,  despised,  repulsed, 
sneered  at — is  nevertheless  a  vital  being,  and  irrepressible. 
Every  where  on  earth  has  been  given  him,  by  the  Almighty, 
assurance,  self-assertion,  and  influence.  The  rise  of  two 
Negro  States  within  a  century,  feeble  though  they  be,  has 
a  bearing  upon  this  subject.  The  numerous  emancipations, 
which  now  leave  not  more  than  a  chain  or  two  to  be  un- 
fastened, have,  likewise,  a  deep  moral  significance.  Thus, 
too,  the  rise  in  the  world  of  illustrious  Negroes  as  Tousant 
L'Ouverture,  Henry  Christophe,  Benjamin  Banneker,  Eus- 
tace, the  Philanthropist,  Stephen  Allan  Benson,  and  Bishop 
Crowther. 

"With  all  these  providential  indications  in  our  favor,  let 
us  bless  God  and  take  courage.  Casting  aside  every  thing 
trifling  and  frivilous,  let  us  lay  hold  of  every  element  of 
power,  in  the  brain;  in  literature,  in  art,  and  science;  in 
industrial  pursuits ;  in  the  soil ;  in  co-operative  association ; 
in  mechanical  ingenuity;  and  above  all,  in  the  religion  of 
our  God;  and  so  march  on  in  the  path  of  progress  to  that 
superiority  and  eminence  which  is  our  rightful  heritage, 
and  which  is  evidently  the  promise  of  our  God." 

A  fit  companion  with  Dr.  Crummell,  is  the  great  scholar 
and  giant  in  character,  the  late  Bishop  Daniel  A.  Payne, 
founder  of  Wilberforce  University,  in  Ohio,  and  Historian 
of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Paraphrasing 
the  words '" African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church/'  in  the 
closing  page  of  his  history  of  that  Church,  we  reproduce 
the  same,  as  follows : 

"And  when  Abram  was  ninety  years  old  and  nine,  the 
Lord  appeared  to  Abram,  and  said  unto  him:  I  am  the 
Almighty  God;  walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  perfect." 

"We  can  not  do  better  than  to  echo  this  command,  and 
say  to  all  and  every  man,  woman  and  child  of  the  race,  as 


128  MEN    OF   MARYLAND: 

individual  elements  in  it,  and  to  the  aggregated  whole : 
The  Almighty  God,  is  thy  God,  who  has  led  thee  on  from 
one  degree  of  strength  to  another  until  thou  hast  attained 
a  little  productive  power.  Do  not  be  proud  of  it,  for  pride 
does  not  become  mortal  man.  Do  not  boast  of  it,  for  boast- 
ing is  the  breath  of  pride.  Eemember  that  God  looks  at 
the  proud  afar  off.  Bather  be  modest,  be  humble,  be  grate- 
ful, be  obedient,  be  loving,  be  faithful,  and  He,  the  Al- 
mighty God  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  will  raise  thee 
to  a  higher  plane  of  strength,  of  power,  of  usefulness,  and 
consequent  greatness.  Listen  to  Him  as  Abraham  listened, 
when  He  says  unto  thee,  'Colored  People,  I  am  the  Al- 
mighty God,  walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  perfect.'  Be 
thou  perfect  in  every  one  of  thy  members,  be  thou  perfect 
in  every  one  of  thy  departments,  'and  I  will  make  thee  to 
multiply  exceedingly;'  'and  I  will  make  thee  exceedingly 
fruitful;'  'and  I  wTill  establish  my  covenant  between  me 
and  thee  and  thy  seed  after  thee  in  their  generations,  for 
an  everlasting  covenant,  to  be  a  God  unto  thee  and  thy 
seed  after  thee.'  Listen,  Colored  People,  0  listen,  and 
when  thou  nearest,  obey  the  command  of  the  Lord  God 
Almighty,  when  He  says :  'Walk  before  me,  and  be  thou 
perfect.'  'I  have  formed  thee,  and  I  have  led  two  genera- 
tions of  thine ;  I  can,  I  will,  I  shall,  lead  a  thousand  gene- 
rations further  and  higher  than  I  have  led  thee  and  thine. 
Only  walk  before  me,  as  Abrani  did,  and  with  me  as 
Enoch  did.'  'Fear  not,  I  am  thy  shield  and  thy  exceeding 
great  reward.'    'Walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  perfect.'  " 

The  End. 


MEN"  OF  MARYLAND,  '  129 


CARDINAL  GIBBONS'  LETTER. 


ARCHDIOCESE  OF  BALTIMORE 

Chancery  Office 

408   North   Charles   Street 

March    9,    1904. 
Rev.  George  F.  Bragg-,  D.  D., 

Rector  of  St.  James  P.  E.  Church, 

Baltimore,  Md. 
Dear  Sir:  — 

In  reply  to  your  letter  of  yesterday,  I  hasten  to  say  that 
the  introduction  of  the  "Jim-Crow"  bill  into  the  Maryland 
Legislature  is  very  distressing  to  me.  Such  a  measure  must 
of  necessity  engender  very  bitter  feelings  in  the  Colored 
People  against  the  Whites.  Peace  and  harmony  can  never 
exist  where  there  is  unjust  discrimination,  and  what  the 
members  of  every  community  must  constantly  strive  for  is 
peace.  Especially  now,  in  the  hour  of  our  affliction.  While 
calamity  and  disaster  are  frowning  upon  our  city,  mutual 
helpfulness  should  be  the  common  endeavor  and  no  action 
should  be  lightly  taken  which  would  precipitate  enmities, 
strife  and  acrimonious  feelings.  The  duty  of  every  man  is 
to  lighten  the  burdens  that  weigh  heavily  upon  his  neigh- 
bor to  the  full  extent  of  his  power.  It  is  equally  the  duty 
of  every  member  of  a  community  to  avoid  any  action  which 
is  calculated  to  make  hard  and  bitter  the  lot  of  a  less  fortu- 
nate race. 

Furthermore,  it  would  be  most  injudicious  to  make  the 
whole  race  suffer  for  the  delinquencies  of  a  few  individuals, 
to  visit  upon  thousands  who  are  innocent,  that  punishment 
and  chastisement  which  should  be  meted  out  to  the  guilty 
alone. 

Faithfully  yours, 

JAMES    CARD.    GIBBONS, 


130  MEN  OF  MARYLAND, 


MR.  BONAPARTE'S  LETTER. 

Baltimore,  February  29,   1904. 
Rev.  George  F.  Bragg,  Jr., 

1133  Park  Avenue,  City. 
My  Dear  Sir:  — 

As  I  explained  to  you,  I  shall  be  prevented  by  imperative 
engagements  from  addressing  the  meeting  to-morrow  even- 
ing. I  am  happy  to  comply  with  your  suggestion  that  I  give 
in  a  letter  my  views  as  to  the  proposed  amendments  to  the 
Constitution  of  this  State,  and  as  to  a  proper  and  judicious 
course  for  our  colored  citizens  in  resisting  these  measures. 

I  must  own  that  I  heard  with  anxiety  of  the  intended 
meeting,  for  although  a  temperate  and  manly  protest  on 
your  part  against  this  legislation  is  eminently  suitable,  ex- 
cited or  ill  considered  language  might  readily  inflame  the 
prejudices  on  which  its  advocates  rely  to  secure  its  adoption 
by  the  General  Assembly  and  ratification  by  popular  vote. 
On  this  question  you  must  appeal  in  last  resort  to  the  jus- 
tice, patriotism,  and  sound  sense  of  your  white  fellow  citi- 
zens; irritating  language  or  injudicious  behavior  must 
weaken  the  force  of  your  appeal. 

I  have  hoped  that  the  great  calamity  which  has  overtaken 
our  city,  and  the  consequent  necessity  for  a  hearty  co- 
operation on  the  part  of  all  classes  of  the  population  and 
men  of  all  parties  and  opinions,  in  repairing  its  losses,  might 
induce  our  Legislature  to  abandon,  or  at  least  adjourn, 
projects  designed  to  gain  mere  partisan  advantage  and  cer- 
tain to  revive  political  animosities.  A  time  when  Maryland 
seeks  most  of  all  to  attract  capital  from  her  progressive  and 
prosperous  sister  States  of  the  North,  to  raise  from  its  ashes 
the  business  section  of  her  principal  City,  seems  ill-suited 
for  legislation  animated  by  such  a  spirit  and  designed  for 
such  ends. 

If,  however,  this  hope  be  disappointed,  I  think  we  may 
still  await,  with  some  confidence  the  verdict  of  the  people 
on  the  measures  in  19  05.  For  such  confidence  I  find  two 
weighty  reasons.  In  the  first  place,  I  believe  that  Maryland 
is  essentially  a  genuine  American  commonwealth.  When 
Voltaire  said:  "He  who  serves  his  country  well  needs  no 
grandfathers,"  he  put  in  words  the  underlying  principle  of 
our  American  institutions.  True  Americans  do  not  ask 
what  sort  of  a  grandfather  a  man  had,  but  what  sort  of  a 
man  he  is  himself;  and  a  proposition  to  make  a  man's  right 
to  vote  depend  on  whether  his  grandfather  voted  is  almost 


MEN   OF   MARYLAND  131 


the  last  which  I  should  expect  a  truly  American  community 
to  approve  at  the  polls. 

Moreover,  I  believe  the  people  of  Maryland  to  be  a  loyal 
community,  recognizing  its  duties  as  one  of  the  States  of 
this  great  Union  to  faithfully  obey  in  letter  and  spirit  the 
Federal  Constitution.  Every  member  of  our  General  As- 
sembly has  promised  under  oath  to  "support  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States."  I  do  not  think  our  people  will 
deliberately  hold  that  promise  to  have  been  kept  as  an 
honorable  and  conscientious  man  should  keep  it,  by  one  who 
has  been  racking  his  brain  to  devise  some  plan  whereby  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  may  be  disobeyed  with  im- 
punity. It  must  be  remembered  that  the  question  involved 
in  the  adoption  or  the  rejection  of  the  proposed  amendments 
is,  not  whether  the  suffrage  should  be  restricted,  but 
whether  it  should  be  restricted  impartially.  If  it  pleases 
the  people  to  exclude  from  the  elective  franchise  criminals 
or  paupers  or  illiterates,  no  one  questions  the  right  to  do 
this;  at  most,  it  is  a  question  of  expediency.  But  whatever 
the  restrictions  imposed,  they  should  be  the  same  for  all 
citizens;  there  should  not  be  one  law  for  white  men,  and 
another  law  for  black  men,  one  law  for  Americans  of  two 
generations  and  another  law  for  Americans  of  three. 

There  is  one  consideration  in  connection  with  this  im- 
portant matter  to  which  I  would  direct  the  special  atten- 
tion of  all  colored  men.  The  proposed  amendments  can 
not  become  a  part  of  our  State  Constitution  until  after  the 
general  election  in  November,  190  5,  and  their  provisions 
will  not  become  practically  effective  as  limiting  the  suffrage 
before,  at  the  earliest,  May,  19  06.  The  colored  citizens  of 
Maryland  have  therefore  more  than  two  years  in  which  to 
fit  themselves  for  the  tests  which  these  amendments  im- 
pose. 

Within  two  years  it  ought  to  be  possible  for  many — I  will 
not  say  for  all — of  those  who  might  now  be  excluded  by 
such  tests  from  the  elective  franchise  to  become  qualified  to 
exercise  it.  Night  schools  should  be  provided  in  most  parts 
of  the  State  for  illiterates  willing  to  make  the  sacrifice  of 
time  and  labor  needed  to  retain  their  political  rights;  and 
it  were  well  if  every  citizen  of  the  State  should  acquaint 
himself  with  the  provisions  of  our  State  Constitution.  I 
doubt  whether  one  in  one  thousand  of  the  white  inhabitants 
of  Maryland  has  ever  read  its  Constitution.  If  colored  men 
devote  the  next  two  years  to  its  study  they  may  perhaps  help 
their  white  neighbors  to  give  "a  reasonable  interpretation" 
of  its  provisions  to  the  Officers  of  Registration. 
I  remain,  my  dear  Sir, 

Yours  very  respectfully  and  truly, 

CHARLES  J.  BONAPARTE. 


132  MEN    OF   MARYLAND. 

THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
ANTI-SLAVERY  SOCIETY. 

"Whereas  the  Most  High  God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all 
nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,"  and 
hath  commanded  them  to  love  their  neighbors  as  themselves; 
and  whereas,  our  National  Existence  is  based  upon  this 
principle,  as  recognized  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
"that  all  mankind  are  created  equal,  and  that  they  are  en- 
dowed by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights, 
among  which  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness," 
and  whereas,  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  sixty  years,  since  the 
faith  and  honor  of  the  American  people  were  pledged  to 
this  avowal  before  Almighty  God  and  the  world,  nearly 
one-sixth  part  of  the  nation  are  held  in  bondage  by  their 
fellow-citizens;  and  whereas  slavery  is  contrary  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  natural  justice,  of  our  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment, and  of  the  Christian  Religion,  and  is  destructive  to 
the  prosperity  of  the  country,  while  it  is  endangering  the 
peace,  union,  and  liberties  of  the  states;  and  whereas,  we 
believe  it  the  duty  and  interest  of  the  masters  immediately 
to  emancipate  their  slaves,  and  that  no  scheme  of  expatria- 
tion, either  voluntary  or  by  compulsion,  can  remove  this 
great  and  increasing  evil;  and  whereas,  we  believe  that  it 
is  practicable,  by  appeals  to  the  consciences,  hearts,  and  in- 
terests of  the  people,  to  awaken  a  public  sentiment  through- 
out the  nation,  that  will  be  opposed  to  the  continuance  of 
slavery  in  any  part  of  the  Republic,  and  by  effecting  the 
speedy  abolition  of  slavery,  prevent  a  general  convulsion; 
and  whereas,  we  believe  we  owe  it  to  the  oppressed,  to  our 
fellow-citizens  who  hold  slaves,  to  our  whole  country,  to 
posterity  and  to  God,  to  do  all  that  is  lawfully  in  our  power 
to  bring  about  the  extinction  of  slavery,  we  do  hereby 
agree,  with  a  prayerful  reliance  on  the  divine  aid,  to  form 
ourselves  into  a  society,  to  be  governed  by  the  following 
constitution: 

ARTICLE  I. — This  Society  shall  be  called  the  American 
Anti-Slavery  Society. 

ARTICLE  II. — The  objects  of  this  Society  are  the  entire 
abolition  of  Slavery  in  the  United  States.  While  it  admits 
that  each  State,  in  which  Slavery  exists,  has,  by  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  the  exclusive  right  to  legis- 
late in  regards  to  its  abolition  in  said  State,  it  shall  aim  to 
convince  all  our  fellow-citizens,  by  arguments  addressed  to. 
their  understandings,  and  consciences,  that  slave-holding 
is  a  heinous  crime  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  that  the  duty, 
safety,  and  best  interests  of  all  concerned,  require  its  im- 
mediate abandonment  without  expatriation.  The  Society 
will   also   endeavor,    in   a   constitutional   way,    to   influence 


MEN"  OF  MARYLAND.  133 


Congress  to  put  an  end  to  domestic  slave  trade,  and  to 
abolish  Slavery  in  all  those  portions  of  our  common  country 
which  come  under  its  control,  especially  in  the  District  of 
Columbia — and  likewise  to  prevent  the  extension  of  it  to 
any  State  that  may  be  hereafter  admitted  to  the  Union. 

ARTICLE  III. — This  Society  shall  strive  to  elevate  the 
character  and  condition  of  the  people  of  color,  by  encourag- 
ing their  intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  improvement,  and 
removing  public  prejudice,  that  thus  they  may,  according 
to  their  intellectual  and  moral  worth,  share  an  equality 
with  the  whites,  of  civil  and  religious  privileges;  but  this 
Society  will  never,  in  any  way,  countenance  the  oppressed  in 
vindicating  their  rights  by  resorting  to  physical  force. 

ARTICLE  IV. — Any  person  who  consents  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  this  constitution,  who  contributes  to  the  funds  of 
this  Society,  and  is  not  a  Slave-holder,  may  be  a  member  of 
this  Society,  and  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  at  the  meetings. 

(The  remaining  six  articles  are  purely  formal.) 


134  MEN"   OF   MARYLAND. 

INDEX 

Page 

I.     The   Author's   Preface 7 

II.     Black  Slaves  in  Maryland 9 

III.  Free  Blacks  in  Maryland 13 

IV.  The  Issue  of  the  Civil  War 20 

V.     IRA     FREDERICK     ALDRIDGE,     Actor     and 

Tragedian 27 

VI.     BENJAMIN    BANNEKER,    Scientist    and    As- 
tronomer    29 

VII.     SCIPIO  BEANES,  Missionary  to  Haiti 35 

VIII.     DANIEL  COKER,  Educator,  Author,  Organizer  37 

IX.     FREDERICK    DOUGLAS,    Orator,    Editor,    Au- 
thor,  Diplomat 41 

X.     WILLIAM     DOUGLAS,     Pastor,    Author,     His- 
torian    47 

XI.     HENRY   HIGHLAND    GARNET,    Orator,    Phil- 
anthropist, Diplomat 54 

XII.     HEZEKIAH    GRICE,    Abolitionist,    Philanthro- 
pist     59 

XIII.  JAMES   A.    HANDY,    Bishop    of   the   A.    M.    E. 

Church : 63 

XIV.  FRANCES   ELLEN   WATKINS   HARPER, 

Teacher,   Lecturer,    Poet 64 

XV.     JAMES  THEODORE  HOLLY,  First  Bishop   of 

Haiti,  Colonist 79 

XVI.     WILLIAM  LEVINGTON,  First  Negro  Priest  on 

Southern  Soil 85 

XVII.     JAMES  W.  C.  PENNINGTON,  Pastor,  Eminent 

Scholar 90 

XVIII.     ELI     WORTHINGTON     STOKES,     Organizer, 

Missionary  to  Africa 99 

XIX.     HARRIET   TUBMAN     (DAVIS),    Underground 

Railroad  Conductor 103 


MEN  OF  MARYLAND.  135 

INDEX 

Page 
XX.    SAMUEL  RINGGOLD  WARD,  Orator,  Editor, 

Pastor 114 

XXL     THOMAS  M.  D.  WARD,  Bishop  of  the  A.  M.  E. 

Church,  Poet 108 

XXII.     ALEXANDER  WAYMAN,  Bishop  of  the  A.  M. 

E.  Church Ill 

XXIII.  HARRISON     HOLMES     WEBB,     Priest,     Edu- 

cator  123 

XXIV.  LEWIS  G.  WELLS,  Pioneer  Physician 125 

XXV.     Cardinal  Gibbon's  Letter 129 

XXVI.     Hon.  Charles  J.  Bonaparte's  Letter 130 

XXVII.     The  Constitution  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Society.  ..133 
XXVIII.    A  Word  of  Encouragement 126 


OTHER  PUBLICATIONS 
BY  THE  REV.  GEORGE  F.  BRAGG,  D.  D. 


1.  The    Colored    Harvest    in    the    Old    Undivided    Diocese    of 

Virginia. 

2.  Old  St.  Stephen's,  Petersburg,  Va. 

3.  Afro-American  Church  Work  and  Workers. 

4.  The  First  Negro  Priest  on   Southern  Soil. 

5.  The  Birth  and  History  of  the  Missionary  District  Plan. 

6.  A  Bond  Slave  of  Christ. 

7.  Negro  Ordinations  From  1795  to  1906. 


"MEN  OF  MARYLAND,"  One  Dollar  per  copy. 

Address   the  Author 

1133  Park  Avenue,  Baltimore,  Maryland. 


